The Medicalisation of Politics or the Politicisation of Medicine: The Case of Italian Struggles to Design Public Healthcare Institutions

Valeria Graziano, Maddalena Fragnito

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Abstract

In the present article, we reflect on some key aspects for the design of pub­lic health systems by retracing the history of the Italian National Health Service, or Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN), from its inception to the present days, analysing how a series of subsequent reforms and counter-reforms impacted its functions and services. Our reflection is based on a collective interview with Fulvio Aurora, Paolo Fierro and Edoardo Turri, three members of Medicina Democratica, which has been and continues to be one of the key organizations in the struggles for keeping health a public value in Italy. While our standpoint on the issue of health is geographically situated, we believe that an analysis of the Italian healthcare sector, with its success­es and its failures, can offer important points of departures for identifying some key characteristics to shape contemporary approaches to healthcare design that can be translocal and cosmopolitan in their application.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-94
Number of pages20
JournalDAT Design, Art and Technology
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 May 2021

Bibliographical note

This journal uses a CC BY license.

Keywords

  • Public health
  • Healthcare organization
  • Italy
  • health design
  • Medicina Democratica
  • Maccacaro
  • Oddone

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