Prevention & health promotion
Prevention before treatment.
Preventing disease, or catching it early, saves lives and money. Minister Schillaci has made it one of the central themes of his mandate. He calls it an investment rather than an expense, and wants prevention spending to be treated differently in European fiscal rules.
The logic of prevention
Five stages, one continuous pathway.
Public health distinguishes primary prevention (stopping disease from starting), secondary prevention (finding it early) and tertiary prevention (limiting its consequences). In practice they form a single pathway from the classroom to the clinic.
Educate
Health literacy, so that people understand risks, recognise symptoms and use services well. It begins at school.
Live well
Diet, physical activity, and avoiding tobacco and harmful alcohol use. These are the main modifiable risks for chronic disease.
Vaccinate
Life-course immunisation set by the national vaccine plan, from childhood to old age.
Screen
The organised screening programmes for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer guaranteed by the LEA, now joined by new neonatal screenings.
Care near
Community Houses and primary care that keep people healthy close to home and pick up problems early.
The argument
An investment, not an expense.
The Minister has said repeatedly that prevention should be seen as investment. In an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore in December 2025 he said that "every euro invested produces three", and that the government was "finally investing in prevention, which for years was considered the Cinderella of healthcare".
From this follows a proposal for Europe. Under the EU's reformed fiscal framework, some spending, notably on defence, is given flexibility in deficit calculations. Schillaci has argued that prevention deserves the same treatment. "I remain convinced that expenditure on prevention should be excluded from the deficit," he said in September 2026, adding that it "should not be regarded as a mere item of expenditure, but as a genuine investment". He has said he is working on the proposal with the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The economic case is supported by studies cited in the Italian debate, which estimate returns several times larger than the original spending, especially for adult vaccination. The figures depend on assumptions, but the direction of the evidence is consistent.
“Prevention should not be regarded as a mere item of expenditure, but as a genuine investment.”
Resources
What Italy spends on prevention.
Health promotion in practice
From awareness to action.
Health promotion is about giving people the knowledge and conditions to make healthy choices. Italy's National Prevention Plan sets common objectives for all regions: healthy schools, healthy workplaces, prevention of addictions, road and domestic safety, and the promotion of physical activity.
Screening shows why organisation matters. A test only saves lives if the invitation reaches the right people, they take it up, and a positive result leads quickly to diagnosis and treatment. Uptake of organised screening varies widely between regions, so the new screening funds and the LEA update are, among other things, tools for equity.
The same principle runs through the Mental Health Plan, whose priorities are prevention and early care, and through the Pandemic Plan, which invests in surveillance before an emergency.
International dimension
“The Prevention Dividend”.
On 1 October 2026 the Minister was guest of honour in Dublin at "The Prevention Dividend: Health as a Driver of Prosperity", an event on connecting policy, business and medicine between Ireland and Italy. It was held at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and promoted with the Italian Embassy in Dublin and the Italian-Irish Chamber of Commerce. The title sums up his argument: prevention as a source of economic as well as health returns.
At the United Nations in 2023 he said that "investing in health prevention must be considered an important aspect of sustainable development".
