The president of SID – the Italian Society of Diabetology, Raffaella Buzzetti, highlights the value of structured physical activity in diabetes management and comments on the proposed law aiming to recognize it as a prescribable therapeutic tool.
The recent US Open victory by tennis star Alexander “Sasha” Zverev, who has lived with type 1 diabetes since childhood, draws renewed attention to the link between sport and diabetes management. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age four, Zverev was able to pursue an elite athletic career largely thanks to—and especially the support of—his mother Irina, who refused to accept the idea that the disease should limit his future. It is precisely this aspect that was emphasized by SID president Raffaella Buzzetti, who reiterates that diabetes should not be a barrier to athletic activity and backs Bill 287, which proposes recognizing structured exercise as a prescribable therapeutic tool within Italy’s National Health Service.
“The story of Sasha Zverev and his mother Irina is the most beautiful picture of what the SID has been advocating for years: type 1 diabetes is not a crystal ceiling to be towered over and limited by, but a condition with which you can run, win, and go anywhere. Those words from that mother should be written in the waiting room of every pediatric diabetology center in Italy, so that the fear of diagnosis never becomes the measure of a child’s life.”, declares Raffaella Buzzetti, president of the SID.
The Draft Law 287 Proposal
For the scientific community, the case of the German champion also highlights the central role of physical activity in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. In this context sits Draft Law 287, led by Senator Daniela Sbrollini, which proposes introducing structured physical activity among the prevention and treatment tools recognized by the Italian National Health Service.
The measure provides for recognizing physical activity as an intervention prescribable by a physician within the prevention and management of non-communicable chronic diseases.
“The Ddl 287 goes exactly in the direction that the diabetes community has long asked for: to treat structured physical activity not as a generic common-sense suggestion, but as a real prescription, with the same dignity as a drug. Those living with diabetes know this well: structured physical activity lowers blood glucose, protects the heart and kidneys, prolongs and improves life. Recognizing it by law means finally aligning public health with what science has shown for decades,” concludes Buzzetti.
If the law were to be enacted, physical activity would be recognized as a means to safeguard the right to health, to prevent and treat non-communicable chronic diseases, and as such could be prescribed by qualified medical personnel, on prescription, like a drug, tax-deductible.
Abbonati a Karla Miller
