Canelli, in the Sud Astigiano area of Piedmont, is home to around 55,000 people across a catchment that includes Canelli itself and Nizza Monferrato, both significant towns for population and local industry. Despite that, there is no hospital in the area that emergency services can rely on: the first aid point at Nizza Monferrato's hospital no longer accepts patients brought in by ambulance, leaving Asti, Acqui Terme, Alba and Alessandria as the nearest real options.
The project
The project combines primary prevention, for people with no known condition in the relevant area, with secondary prevention, for those who already have a condition and need its progression tracked and limited. It targets people aged 35 and over for cardiovascular risk screening, using standard national risk-calculation scores, and everyone registered with the local health authority, including temporary foreign residents, born between 1969 and 1989, for national hepatitis C screening.
Sessions are distributed evenly across the local area, making prevention genuinely easy to access rather than dependent on how far someone can travel, and giving the population both a quality service and a real chance to catch disabling conditions before they progress. Results are tracked using the standard assessment forms set out by Italy's Ministry of Health, including a clear follow-up pathway for anyone whose screening reveals a positive but not yet diagnosed condition.
Who the project is for
The project is aimed at residents of the Canelli and Nizza Monferrato area: people aged 35 and over for cardiovascular risk screening, and the wider population born between 1969 and 1989, including temporary foreign residents, for hepatitis C screening.
Project name: MANTENIAMOCI SANI
Proposing organisation: CROCE ROSSA ITALIANA COMITATO DI CANELLI ODV
Area of intervention: Health & Welfare
Country: Italy