States General of Health

On the 8th and the 9th of April 2014, the States General of Health meeting was held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. The aim of the Conference was to involve the main stakeholder in the field of health in order to evaluate the ideas and guidelines for the reform of the Italian Health System. It was an event of unusual importance for the Italian Healthcare System because of the participation of the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin.

The following themes were under discussion: the organisation of health care, the right to health, prevention, Research and agricultural security. They also talked about standard costs, sustainability models, transparency of data, future of the health-care professions, the importance of prevention and healthy lifestyle.

Moreover, the event highlighted the excellence of the Italian Health System as well as its problems. The meeting reflected on the best strategies to adopt in the very near future in order to guarantee the National Health System the current characteristics of equity and universality as well as a qualitative homogeneous growth throughout the Italian territory. In relation to the costs of hospital care, the Minister Lorenzin envisaged “the possibility that the Health System would contribute to the reduction of the Italian public expenditure”. They furthermore spoke about the agenda, which will characterize the Italian term of office in the Presidency of the European Union with bilateral meetings between the Minister of Health and the delegation from different countries.

The Experimental Zooprophylactic Institutes (IIZZSS) participated at the meeting and presented through an exhibition stand and 10 informative poster, one for each Institute, the excellence produced in terms of experimentation and organization. The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” contributed to set-up and manage the exhibition space dedicated to the IIZZSS with its own staff and scientific productions.