Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - The Italian Society of Pediatric Infectivology will hold its 4th National Congress
in Rome 1 - 3 April 2004 to discuss problems connected with infective diseases in infancy, treatment and prevention. Infectious diseases are one of the most frequent pathologies in childhood and unless they are given suitable attention they can be a problem for the child and for the community. Continual progress in techniques of diagnosis and therapy demand constant updating and comparison.
The Congress aims therefore to consider the evolution of infectious diseases putting the child at the centre of the attention of diverse professional and institutional figures operating in the field of infectivology.
This significant event is connected with the recent completion of a survey on vaccination and humanisation of hospital care for children with infective diseases carried out by the Italian Parliamentary Commission for Childhood. The objective of the Congress is to discuss the important question of prevention and treatment with the protagonists of assistance: family pediatricians, hospital pediatricians, researchers, nurses and public health experts. The participants will interact with the speakers and take part in workshops.
At the end of the Congress there will be a Consensus Conference on the subject of the child with HIV/AIDS who becomes an adolescent. For some time Italian experts in various sectors have been meeting with representatives of associations of patients and voluntary workers to identify ways and means to communicate the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS infection to a child patient.
Today thanks to therapy these children can become adolescents but there are problems such as rejection of therapy, fear of death and social discrimination. What to say and how to say it, how to plan the necessary therapy - ever more effective but also heavy and often toxic - and how to provide adequate insertion in society, are some of the questions which will be discussed in view of drafting guidelines for medical and social operators. (AP) (30/3/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:32 Parole:375)
