Signed today atUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma by specialists from Roman universities. In the background is the problem of stillbirths, with 6 cases every day in Italy. The launch of a 'biopolitics' at the service of scientific truth and not of economic needs or defensive medicine is called for. Minister Lorenzin also spoke: “Changing models of post-partum care and new national guidelines on breastfeeding. Birth frontier, real alarm for our country"
Rome, February 6 2016 Every day, in Italy, 6 women lose their child, almost always in the last three months of pregnancy: it is one of the numbers recently brought to the fore by the scientific journal The Lancet in a special titled Preventing Avoidable Stillbirths. This figure was also among the topics at the center of the annual meeting of the Schools of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Roman universitiesdedicated to the theme Prenatal medicine and the protection of life and held today atUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma.
The event took place on the eve of 38th National Day for Life. Chiara, on the sidelines of the interventions, the complaint of the Prof. Roberto Angioli, Director of the School of Specialization in Obstetrics and Gynecology of the host university: “If we look at how much has been invested in recent years for research into medically assisted procreation techniques and at how much, instead, to improve the conditions of a child who has problems in the uterus or at birth, we have to record an abysmal difference. Yet medicine has the primary objective of curing a sick fetus, not of encouraging its elimination".
The debate among the specialists, which was also attended by experts in bioethics and social sciences, culminated in a Final document, signed by the heads of the gynecological chairs of the capital. In the text, the "absolute need to correctly relate the level of risk of each single pregnancy” avoiding misuse of prenatal diagnostics. And, in the event of fetal problems, there is a strong warning to "inform parents about the meaning of this pathology, about the treatment of the fetus, where possible, and about the assistance of the affected newborn, as part of a correct and responsible approach to the couple waiting for a new life".
Gynecologists reiterate, however, the urgency of "invest in research and training of medical and paramedical health personnel, and of doctors in specialist training, in the field of Fetal Medicine in order to protect Life as a unique and intangible asset and offer increasingly valid therapeutic options”. The final text then contains a call for all specialists to provide "a careful counseling based on humanity, which is typical and inseparable in the role of the health care professional, who, at this juncture as never before, takes on a role in the decision-making process and in the support of the coupleto". The specialists conclude by invoking the birth of "a true form of biopolitics where politics is at the service of scientific truth, and not of economic needs or any defensive medical attitude".
The Document will now be delivered by HE Mons. Lorenzo Leuzzi, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome and responsible for University and Health Pastoral, to Pope Francis.
"We wanted to launch – explains Angioli – a strong message on the meaning of prenatal medicine, which would allow, if properly applied, to reduce the level of infant mortality in our country. According to ISTAT, this rate is now equal to 3,9 cases per thousand live births: one of the lowest percentages in industrialized countries. In fact, today's medical and welfare evolution allows many newborns with problems to have an almost normal life. Unfortunately, however, there are still few couples who know the therapies and techniques with which it is possible to deal with fetal malformations, in utero or at birth. The time has come to enable them to make more informed decisions".
The appointment also wanted to attend the Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin"We have to organize a different postpartum care, which does not make women feel alone in the first two months after they have given birth. In fact, not all of them are lucky enough to have parents who can be full-time grandparents. On breastfeeding it is necessary to have new national guidelines and then we need to put women in the optimal condition to breastfeed. We shouldn't be surprised if a woman breastfeeds at the bus stop or in the restaurant or at work, there's nothing wrong with that. We have come to have the taboo of breastfeeding. You see naked women everywhere, but you can't breastfeed because someone gets upset”. The Minister continued: "The frontier of the birth rate is the real alarm of our country. If we don't start having children again, we risk an implosion, as well as a cultural, ethical and moral shrinkage. Becoming parents must be 'cool', we must once again make the fact of facing parenthood attractive and normal and help families with active policies that support it. But that's not enough. We must be able to adjust our organizational models, considering the fact that no more children are born".
The special articles of The Lancet on the topic of stillbirths also highlight how i90% of these cases worldwide could be prevented. For this reason, at the end of the investigation, scientific journal calls on health systems in high-income countries to make an effort to achieve zero preventable stillbirths by 2030, improving women's health from before conception. Although the annual rate (1,1%) of reduction of stillbirths in Italy is still lower than the figure that would be necessary (5,5%, UNICEF Millennium Development Goal No. 5), from 1990 to today in In our country, mortality for reasons related to pregnancy or childbirth has been halved. So much remains to be done, even if a lot is already being done to improve these numbers, taking into account that most stillbirths are preventable through good quality care during pregnancy, labor and delivery.
