Respiratory allergies represent a heavy social and economic burden for national healthcare systems. According to the World Health Organization and scientific literature, approximately 350 million people globally suffer from diseases linked to these chronic problems – from rhinitis to bronchial asthma – which strongly impact the quality of life with great social, economic and clinics. It is a symptomatology that requires demanding management, with regular and urgent specialist visits and even hospitalizations for the management of more severe cases. This is where the ‘Manifesto of the rights and duties of people with respiratory allergies’ was born, presented today during a conference at the Chamber of Deputies and signed by 15 organizations representing the medical-scientific world, patients and institutions.
The National Institutes of Health in the United States have recognized the hypothesis that the increased level of hygiene and exposure to pollutants, typical of the most advanced societies in the world, influence the immune response by promoting allergic sensitization. Added to the environmental risk are other individual risk factors, genetic and family-related, behavioral and related to inadequate lifestyles. In our country it is estimated that every year around 10 million people fall ill with respiratory allergies due to exposure to pollen, mould, mite and domestic animal allergens, and it is estimated that around 15-20% of the Italian population suffers from allergies , a growing phenomenon, especially among younger people and women.
The direct costs of asthma, deriving from the use of drugs and health services, represent approximately 1-2% of health expenditure, while the indirect costs (due to school absenteeism and reduction of parents’ working days for child care child), in the most serious cases, constitute over 50% of the overall costs, reaching a greater economic impact than pathologies such as tuberculosis and HIV infection combined. The new Manifesto aims to be a stimulus to protect the rights and access to care of people with respiratory allergies and to strengthen and rationalize assistance, encouraging the growth of large specialist structures in constant and dynamic connection with the territory.
The Manifesto was developed by the Bhave research institute, with the involvement of scientific societies, including Cittadinanzattiva, Breathe Together and Alama. The document focuses on many topics such as: the rights of the person with respiratory allergies, the expectations and responsibilities of the person with respiratory allergies and their family members, responsible associations, the prevention of respiratory allergies, the remission and control of respiratory allergies, the commitment to research, the continuous education of the person with respiratory allergies, the doctor-person dialogue, respiratory allergies in developmental age and in the frail elderly, the relationship of respiratory allergies with the phenomenon of immigration and with the territory.
“The ‘Manifesto of the rights and duties of the person with respiratory allergies’ represents a fundamental stage in the path we are taking thanks to the activity carried out by the parliamentary Intergroup on respiratory allergies, of which I am president together with Senator Sbrollini, with the support of a large team of technicians and experts who have made themselves available for this project. The Manifesto aims to be a stimulus and a roadmap that can grow and strengthen the system of access to care for people suffering from respiratory allergies”, said Paolo. Ciani, vice-president of the Pd-Idp group and secretary of the XII Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber.
This is echoed by Daniela Sbrollini, vice president of the Senate’s Social Affairs, Health, Public and Private Work and Social Security Commission. “In the face of an extremely relevant epidemiological and clinical situation – he observes – allergy care is often in a worrying situation. With the dismantling of hospital structures, as unfortunately occurred in recent years, the possibility of intervene on serious and potentially fatal diseases that require complex assistance”.
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