Upcoming political developments

The new 2020-2025 Prevention Plan (Cf. paragraph 7.4) aims at an integration function between the different levels of government with the activation of technical tables to strengthen health promotion strategies according to the “Health in all policies” approach.

Today’s society reflects an important challenge for public health policies, especially in the landscape of addictions among young people; in particular the action of the mass media, the uncertainty in the educational and social message and the growing disorientation of the reference educational figures contribute to the dissemination of incorrect information on the impact on health of the various substances that cause addiction and the low perception of risk, especially among young people.

The community and, in particular, the family represent the main actors who can enhance the educational functions for adequate health skills. Schools and places of youth gathering represent the main contexts in the paths of growth and acquisition of adequate life skills, also through comparison between peers and interaction with reference adults. The school, due to its institutional and training role, its universal educational function and its widespread presence on the territory is a central setting for preventing and identifying situations that risk causing addiction.

Ongoing debates

In PNP 2020-2025, it stands out that adolescence and youth represent a crucial phase for the development of the individual and therefore constitutes a key moment in which to intervene effectively with adequate health promotion policies and interventions that address the development of positive values ​​and facilitate the adoption of behaviour oriented to a healthy lifestyle.

Prevention is the main action to avoid and reduce the risks and damage to health related to the use and abuse of legal and illegal substances, along with the onset of behavioural disorders.

Strategic approaches are needed to:

• counter and reduce the offer, through the adoption of policies aimed at regulating access;
• reduce demand, working on changing attitudes;
• foster intersectoral coordination between the various policies implemented

In the current debate, it is clear that the task of promoting intervention programs capable of reducing risk factors and strengthen protective factors, cannot be delegated only to the social-health system but the involvement and connection of all the institutional, cultural and social energies present at national, regional and territorial levels is fundamental to ensure a system of intervention system that brings together all the available resources (human, technical, organizational, social and financial).

According to what has been arranged in the Mission 6 of the PNRR, 7 billion are allocated for the development of proximity networks, structures and telemedicine for local sanitary assistance and 8.63 billion for innovation, research and digitalization of the National Health System, with a particular focus on the Electronic Health Dossier.

Proposed reforms and investments in the area of health have two main objectives:

1. strengthening the capacity in preventing and treating in the national health system for the benefit of all citizens;
2. guaranteeing equal and widespread access to treatments and promoting the usage of innovative technologies.

The improvement of performances supplied at local level is pursued through the strengthening and the creation of local posts and structures (like the Houses of the Community and the Hospitals of the Community), the reinforcement of domestic assistance, the development of telemedicine and of remote assistance (with the activation of 602 Local Operational Centres), and of a more efficient integration with all the socio-sanitary services.