Global health Forum 2010

Opening remarks by H.E. Ambassador Giulio Terzi

Embassy of Italy (October 12, 2010)

Minister Fazio,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

my warmest welcome to all of you, and to our speakers and participants who have traveled from Italy and from all the United States to be here today.

The Global Health Forum is an initiative which has been promoted by the Embassy in Washington since 2006. But this year’s symposium is a special one for at least three reasons.

First and foremost, we are honored to have the Italian Minister of Health, Professor Ferruccio Fazio, opening this conference today. His presence, in his capacity of Minister of the Italian Republic and also as a renowned scientist, outlines both the importance of the topic which we will address, and the strength of the ties between Italy and the United States in science, and namely in health cooperation.

Secondly, I would like to welcome and thank the speakers and all participants.

Today’s event comes right after the celebrations for Columbus Day. A sign of the great intensity of relations between our Governments and our People.

The Forum 2010 is part of a program promoted by the Embassy: Italy@150. Placed under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Italy, this program aims at celebrating in the United States the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

Italy@150 is also a tribute to our unique partnership as well as to our shared values.

Today, one of the most relevant features of our close ties is indeed science. A large number of Italian researchers work in the laboratories of the National Institutes of Health and of the many Universities in the USA. Many of them have assured key contributions to medicine; in some cases their work has been recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy, with Nobel prizes.

Scientific cooperation between Italy and the United States cover all realms of medicine. The benefits reaped are shared equally, not only in our countries but throughout the world.

This environment is conducive to the further deepening of programs in biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals.

This leads me to my third point, our topic today: healthy aging globally.

I believe that this topic is timely: the U.S. Health reform is just being implemented. We can therefore share our policies experiences, and compare them in the context of our partly diverging demographics. The latest OECD data show that health spending accounts for 9.1% of the Italian GDP and that, between 2000 and 2008, the health spending per capita in real terms has increased by 1.9% per year (well below the OECD average of 4.2%). In 2007, life expectancy at birth in Italy was 81.5 years - two years above the OECD average - while in the US average life expectancy was 77.9 years.

In 2009, the percentage of the Italian population over 65 was 20.1 (12.9 percent in the US). From this demographic data we also garner another important information: the percentage of people over 65 is growing throughout the world. Vaccines and medicines help us reach advanced age in good health. We are learning from the wisdom of the Classics and, often unwittingly, are following, or trying to, Seneca’s words of advice: “Ante senectutem curavi ut bene viverem” which I take the liberty of translating as “We have to do our best to age well”.

This is at the same time an opportunity and a challenge. Aging as a critical emerging global health issue needs to be addressed from scientific, behavioral, economic, environmental, and political perspectives. Scientists both in Italy and in the United States are actively engaged in this endeavor. The science of aging is a field in which Italy and the United States definitely enjoy an edge, thanks to the relevance that is given in both Countries to this new global issue. Hence our efforts in furthering and improving collaboration in this crucial field.

The Italian Government – and, personally, Prime Minister Berlusconi - are strongly supporting research in this field by promoting projects – such as the one named Quo Vadis by Don Verzé, the founder of the Ospedale San Raffaele, for the creation of a research center in Italy dedicated to the science of longevity.

Health is a priority for Italy also in terms of its aid and development policy. Italy is heavily involved in furthering the United Nations and G-8 initiatives targeted at improving public health and fighting diseases. Among these I would like to recall the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, launched by Italy in the Genoa G8 in the year 2000, which has contributed to saving over 2 million lives, and the significant steps forward that were made in the G8 at L’Aquila in 2009. Defeating pandemics and endemic diseases, and strengthening health systems in developing countries are crucial and closely interlinked objectives. We are committed in this direction, both on the bilateral and multilateral levels, playing a role also in innovative funding in the struggle against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The engine behind progress is the continuous relationship between fundamental research and development. The great strides made in genetics, nanotechnology and chemistry are quickly incorporated in this ever evolving science: Medicine.

This event owes much indeed to Rear Admiral, Dr. Susan Blumenthal. Her enthusiasm, experience and expertise have been truly invaluable and the driving force for this symposium: Thank you, Dr. Blumenthal, for making this event possible.

I am deeply honored to give the floor to Professor Ferruccio Fazio, Minister of Health of the Republic of Italy.

Professor of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Oncology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Minister Fazio has also been Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Oncology at the Scientific Institute S. Raffaele, in Milan, and Director at the Institute for Molecular Imaging and Physiology of the Centro Nazionale Ricerche (CNR), Director of the PET/Cyclotron Centre at the Scientific Institute H. S. Raffaele, Milan. He has published more than 350 full papers on international peer reviewed journals. Minister Fazio is a world recognized scientist and a true leader in the Italian and the European medical environment.

Thank you Minister Fazio.

5