Cure
Girl activity results in the decision of the regional administration of
Lombardy in Italy to support chronic spinal cord injury research in 2014. From www.CureGirls.wordpress.com
The regional administration of Lombardy on
Dec. 20th 2013 has approved the health plan for 2014 as proposed
by the members of the administrations Dr. Mario Mantovani and Dr. Maria
Cristina Cantù.
On page 115 of
Annex 3 under “Special Programs” it has been specified that the intention of
the administration is to allocate money to research for chronic spinal cord injury.
The Council’s decision was supported by the
President of the Commission III Health and Social Welfare Dr. Fabio Rizzi, who
had received and evaluated a proposal signed by Ms. Loredana Longo (Cure Girl)
and Mr. Paolo Cipolla. The proposal detailed the situation of people living
with chronic spinal cord injury and requested financial investment in research
to find a CURE for this condition in line with the Council of Europe Recommendation n° 1560/2002.
“This is just the first step,” said Dr. Rizzi.
“Now we have to identify specific projects.”
On behalf of people living with spinal cord injury
that every day fight for a cure Ms. Longo and Mr. Cipolla want to thank the
regional administration of Lombardy, Dr. Mario Mantovani, Dr. Maria Cristina
Cantù, Dr. Fabio Rizzi and his staff who have all shown to be extremely
passionate and visionary to find a solution for this problem.
In Italy the Ministry of Health estimates the
number of people living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury is 80,000
with about 1.200-1.500 new cases per year. About 80% are between 10 and 40
years old. In the Lombardy region alone it is estimated that there are about
14,000 people living with spinal cord injury with an annual increase of
approximately 250 new cases. This terrible condition is not only highly
disabling for spinal cord injured people, but it also has a tremendous social
and economic impact . In fact life expectancy for people with spinal cord
injury is considerably reduced, especially for quadriplegics and also involves extremely
high social costs.
I’m confident that this
commitment of the Regional administration to support research will
help to find effective therapies for the treatment of paralysis caused by
chronic spinal cord injury.
Cure Girl Loredana
