PolmoniAMO_INGL

PolmoniAMO 27 Italian Manifesto 3. POLICY ACTIONS Since prevention is the fundamental key to a sustainable system and to the protection of health, through this Manifesto we are calling on national and regional institutions, together with the scientific communities, to work together in order to: 1. Guarantee that citizens at high risk of developing lung cancer (due to age and tobacco exposure) are able to access screening by including screening within the Essential Levels of Care (LEA) in the same way as cervical, colorectal and breast cancer screening programmes. 2. Develop institutional information campaigns - through national and local, traditional, digital and social channels - broken down by age group, for the effective and continuous dissemination of information on the importance of lung cancer screening, including through the direct involvement of patients’ and citizens’ associations. 3. Establish and fund screening through a dedicated fund for a nationwide screening programme aimed at all citizens identified or identifiable as being at risk of developing lung cancer, whilst simultaneously increasing funding for currently active programmes. 4. Mobilise local healthcare services (GPs, Health Centres, Districts) in the targeting of at-risk popula- tions who are eligible for previously established screening programmes or screening programmes to be implemented at national level, by training and raising their awareness of the importance of screening and setting up coordination structures/initiatives between the local services and the centres where lung cancer screening will take place. 5. Update the recommendations for the planning and execution of population screening issued by the Ministry of Health , Directorate General for Planning, in 2005. 6. Incorporate within each Regional Oncology Network a centre dedicated to carrying out lung cancer screening programmes , with a centralised hub and in coordination with the other structures involved in the network and with local healthcare services which are active in the care and follow-up of the patient undergoing screening. Scientific community 1. Increase the knowledge and awareness of the scientific community with regard to the evidence supporting the use of LDCT as a tool to reduce mortality by improving the prognosis of lung cancer patients. 2. Involve general practice in actively promoting the importance of screening as a tool for adopting a proactive approach to one’s own health for those at increased risk of developing lung cancer.