The regional network for the prevention and treatment of eating disorders is born in Lombardy. The importance of spreading awareness of the theme
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February 16 the regional council unanimously approved my bill on the prevention and treatment of nutrition and eating disorders.
The proposal was born from a series of visits to the Lombard structures that deal with these pathologies and was perfected following a fruitful discussion both with professionals in the sector and with the patients’ families and caregivers.
Eating disorders have long been the second cause of death for the Italian female population in adolescence after road accidents and affect a growing number of young people. Prudential estimates say that nationally the presence of full-blown anorexia is found in at least 25 thousand young women, 100 thousand would have forms of bulimia, but it is not unlikely that among the general population there are a few million cases. These are numbers that require an intervention in themselves and that require even more decisiveness in action in light of the increase among our young people in the psychological distress encountered in this difficult year.
Starting from these premises, enhancing the realities present in Lombardy and subsidiaryly strengthening the informal network that exists between them, the new Lombard law provides for the establishment of a regional network for the prevention and treatment of eating disorders and the creation of a Control room that coordinates it, prepares the necessary guidelines to respond to needs, improves knowledge and engages on issues such as waiting lists. From the point of view of a capillary network, the law provides for the implementation in each territorial social and health company (ASST) of outpatient interventions for the early interception, diagnosis and referral of patients to the most appropriate care settings and structures. Including the newly established specialized functional units used for the treatment of patients, including hospital treatment, in which functional teams will be created made up of all the health professionals necessary for an all-round care intervention. Information and training interventions are also planned.
For the actions defined by the law, one and a half million euros per year have been allocated for the next three years. Significant resources and all the more useful the more we succeed in spreading awareness on an issue that has to do with the intergenerational commitment that must make us implement actions, on the one hand, for the most fragile of our elderly, other, for our young people.
It is in this perspective that together with the legislative commitment, I am working to involve those who can make a contribution; starting with our friend Ambra Angiolini, who made herself available to start projects with our girls and our boys. The bipartisan commitment made by the Regional Council on my bill is a good indicator of the start of a shared path. It seems to me an excellent first step.
Simona Tironi
Vice President of the Health and Social Policies Commission, Lombardy Region
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