We publish the second part of the interview with Prof. Francesco Bevere.

Paolo Balduzzi- Rome

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Paolo Balduzzi interviews Prof. Francesco Bevere, Head of the National Cancer Institute ‘Regina Elena’ and of the Dermatological Institute San Gallicano in Rome, about the program that aims at an enhanced humanization of hospitalization.

Paolo Balduzzi- Rome

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“In every family is the life of the others as precious as one's own? Here is the seed of the culture of life, that should underlie every law and every social structure”.


Biological life, from conception to death, has an intrinsic dignity, which bestows upon each person a per se value. This dignity originates from the psycho-biological singularity, which is an objective scientific datum, about which everybody agrees. Indeed this uniqueness allows to understand the value that every single person has, her inner life, her thoughts, beyond any possible philosophical, religious, or ideological difference. Each person represents a unique and singular aspect of the richness of life, and she can express herself only if both the environmental and cultural contexts allow her to do it. Confronted with the ever new discoveries of science and technique, a natural need appears, namely the need to help society in promoting an integral culture of life, that can take into account every expression, phase, and condition. A unanimously shared value of life should be the base of any political and social committment.

Under this point of view, let us try and highlight what already exists:

1) Are there in your city cultural, institutional, voluntary actions, that show particular concern for the beginning and the end of life?
2) In your city are there  experiences of health operators, rearchers, citizens, which are perceived as innovative and look at the patient as a whole, at not only under a sheer bio-medical (i.e. illness, diagnosis, therapy) point of view?
3) In your city are there institutions or voluntary experiences, that give value to the solidarity attitude from citizens, and therefore give a contribution to participation to community life from sick, elder and disabled people, and their families?
4) Are there social agencies taht promoted the development of services for people with specific diseases?

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Quite a number of the improvements occurred in the last decades in the field of health, mainly in rich countries, are due to better natural environmental conditions and to the diffusion of healthier living habits. Both aspects call for the committment of educational agencies and the choice of single citizens as well, besides specific actions by political institutions.  However, education to healthier living habits may clash with the interests of strong economic powers, such as food and tobacco industries.  It is widely proved (sometimes through legal reimbursement actions) that these economic agents spread misleading opinions, above all among vulnerable population layers, in order to promote  habits, which are profitable for the producers, but highly risky for the public health.

A healthy environment and a proper health education, aimed at fighting the obnoxious messages coming from the mass media, are a  specific responsability not only of national institutions, but also of local ones. Opinion groups and citizen associations should cooperate as well.

1. In your city do you see a proper level of attention to public health in non-sanitary areas, such as the public transportation system, schools, housings, waste treatment, parks, cycle lanes, sport facilities, etc.?
2. In your city does there exist an educational committment to a healthy life-style (nutrition, abstention from tobacco and so-called recreational drugs, abstention from an exaggerated use of alcohol, sport, free time and relax, etc.)?
3. What kind of practices are used in order to promote them? (in the families, at school, and in all other places where youth spend their time, relying on mass media and internet)?
4. In your city are there mutual help associations that work for people with unhealthy behaviours?

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