ROMA (ITALPRESS) – In the aftermath of the World Day of Obesity, the first pilot project to take over the territory of people with severe obesity was illustrated at the Sala Mechelli of the Regional Council of Lazio. The initiative took place in the context of the conference entitled “Obesity, a chronic disease: the role of the Lazio Region between prevention, care and fight against stigma”.
“We agreed on the main actors in approving the law on obesity as chronic disease. We focus on prevention and innovation to start with this sample project, trusting in the great progress of science and research. Pathologies such as obesity affect importantly on the National Health Service, prevention is not a cost but an investment”, the words of Antonello Aurigemma, president of the Regional Council of Lazio.
The program, called “multidisciplinary course of territorial takeover for people with severe obesity under conditions of socio-economic fragility”, was presented by the general manager of ASL Roma 1, Giuseppe Quintavalle. “A great day. The project will affect the entire territory, from today on we start in a push on our community homes to act with primary, secondary and tertiary prevention on our sick and, in this case, on third-level charges. We begin to take care of several patients through psychotherapeutic pathways,” said Quintavalle, who went into the field at the forefront of obesity as chronic disease.
The road is to use an integrated and continuous approach that includes prevention, early diagnosis, multidisciplinary takeover, welfare continuity and actions of contrast to the stigma, which is a concrete obstacle to access to care and quality of life.
In this context, some regions are experiencing innovative and integrated approaches, able to combine prevention, initiative medicine and sustainability, integrating the promotion of healthy lifestyles, structured physical activity and nutritional counseling, with particular attention to people in conditions of social fragility. In the light of Law 149 of 2025, the meeting promoted an institutional and technical-scientific confrontation aimed at strengthening regional governance.
“The fact that this law has recognized obesity as chronic disease must make us proud. We are the first country in the world to do so and to put proposals in support of those who are obese and on the issue of prevention. The Regional Council has managed to involve all stakeholders and the scientific and academic world, with which we shared the bill,” says Roberto Pella, member of the Budget Committee, treasure and programming.
Valorizing a regional model “prevention-care-care-care-continuity”, integrating territory and hospital, promoting multidisciplinary takeover with the construction of dedicated paths, countering stigma and discrimination through information are some of the objectives of the pilot project, which aims to strengthen synergy between institutions and associations, trying to act on prevention in the short and medium term.
-Photo mec/Italpress-
(ITALPRESS).
