Italy is getting old. With a steep demographic curve and new economic challenges to keep under control. It is on these points, and above all on correlation People’s welfare and productivityOn which some experts focused their attention on the occasion of the Meridiano Senata Forum in Rome.Health for All Policies: Towards a New Strategic Vision of Health Care Systems for Country DevelopmentAmong the ways envisaged to improve the situation and support development in the long term, their activities focused on Prevention And on rapid adoption innovations In scientific and technical fields.
How demographics have changed and how much this weighs on the national NHS.
Over the past 50 years, the process of The population is aging has changed Italy’s demographic structure by shifting the demographic pyramid towards older age groups, with significant implications not only for health care costs but also for the available workforce. Predictions for 2040 show A gap of 3.4 million workers.
The proposal that emerged from the forum is to address the issue of the sustainability of NHS funding over time in an integrated way, working together across multiple dimensions. what to do Directions speak. Policies to encourage birth ratesPolicies to promote Participation in the labor market (primarily skill matching, women and youth) and increasing the attractiveness of our country Attracting human capital from abroad. With special attention, in this sense, to “encourage the return of brains, particularly in critical fields such as the life sciences”.
Demographic change has added new challenges, including not only economic hardship – 2.2 million families and 5.7 million people are in absolute poverty – butincreasing regional differences, Job insecurity, rising mental distress, climate change and growing regional disparities – in Italy A gap of 3 years Between regions with the highest life expectancy at birth and the lowest.
How are the Italians?
Italian They live longer and longer But years lived in poor health have increased from about 11 years in 2004 to about 16 years in 2023, due to a higher prevalence of high-impact pathologies due to the multiplicity of risk factors at onset. . Seductive lifestyleobesity, smoking. Non-communicable diseases, together with communicable diseases, are responsible for more than 19.5 million DALYs (advanced life expectancy adjusted for disability, hence an index of global severity of pathology) of which 40% work. Concerned for the aging population, the impact on women, which translates into a 97 billion euros in productivity lossesequivalent to 4.6% of Italian GDP.
What can be done?
A clear vision of the future emerges from the forum. Intervention strategies on risk factors, vaccination and screening will contribute to the sustainability of the NHS, in addition to significantly improving the health of citizens. Costs equivalent to around 544 billion euros were avoided over 10 years.
Cost: Improvement of risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet), reduction in incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases (anti-HPV and anti-HPV in adolescents) It is derived from the sum of direct and indirect costs incurred. pneumococcal, anti-herpes zoster and anti-flu in patients over 65 and with cancer) and early diagnosis through oncology screening programs (breast, cervical and colorectal).
The value of prevention
According to Valerio De Molly, Managing Partner and CEO of The European House – Ambrosity and TEHA Group, a global vision is needed.
“It is clear that Invest in public health. This is a necessity, not only to guarantee the well-being of citizens and the community, but also to improve productivity and accelerate the country’s economic growth,” the expert explained.
Therefore, it is important to focus on prevention of health. Healthy lifestyleImmunization and screening campaigns.
“These are fundamental tools to improve health conditions and to contain the future costs of the health care and welfare system, and to contribute to the reduction of regional disparities – is the opinion of de Molly. Good health improves As well as building and strengthening the NHS, it is also important to put productivity gains at the heart of the healthcare agenda. Follow industrial policy.Focusing on strategic areas viz Pharmaceutical“
To return to growth, the country needs to focus on strategic sectors characterized by high R&D intensity, high multipliers of economic activity, large company size and highly skilled employment.
Importance of pharmaceutical sector
Value added per employee and investment in output per employee is twice that of manufacturing and investment in R&D per employee is 8 times that of manufacturing. Pharmaceutical Represents a driving force for growth, innovation and productivity as part of a highly dynamic health ecosystem. However, we need to work to increase the attractiveness of the country by simplifying and introducing legislation. Reward Procedures Also as compensation for the effects of return For companies investing in production and research systems in Italy.
The commitment to research and development reflects the innovation profession that characterizes the pharmaceutical sector globally: more than 22,800 drugs are in development in 2024 (+7.2% compared to 2023). Regarding 2023Italy is second after Germany. Of the total number of medicines approved at European level, in terms of the number of medicines accessible to patients on national territory (129 out of a total of 167 medicines) and in the main European countries, 3rd for average access time (424 days between drug approval at European level and reimbursement at national level), followed by Germany and England, is gradually improving.
Compensation at the national level is followed by a phase of regional access, which is assessed by Meridiano Sunita according to 3 dimensions:
- Time of access to medicines (time from publication of reclassification decision/price and reimbursement system in official gazette to first purchase from at least one health facility at regional level)
- Availability of self-medication (number of medicines for which consumption of at least one of the total medicines at the regional level is detected)
- Actual use of medicines purchased by the NHS structure.
From the initial sample submitted by 61 medicines containing new active substances receiving a positive EMA opinion for the first therapeutic indication during 2021, 38 were selected for at least one area or Sales were recorded in PA. These drugs, whether orphan or non-orphan or innovatively evaluated by AIFA, are noteworthy. Regional differences in access for patients.
The median access time (equivalent to 3.7 months for non-innovator orphan drugs, 4.1 months for innovator drugs and 5.6 months for non-innovator non-orphan drugs) presented a gap of more than 6 months between the fastest and slowest regions to develop. does available medicine.
As regards availability, no region purchased, and therefore made available, all the medicines included in the analysis (availability 63% for non-innovator non-orphan drugs, 57% for non-innovator orphans and is equal to 52% innovation).
In terms of actual drug use, the region with the highest drug use has twice the consumption of the region with the least use. They derive from data. Significant regional differences Different regional access systems result in differences in time and equity of patient access to treatment, particularly in favor of more innovative systems.
