Organization of paediatric diabetes units in Italy

Aim of this work is to give a realistic picture of the medical care situation in Italy and to verify its congruence with ISPAD and SIEDP guidelines and the law. In Italy diabetes is recognized as a disease of great social interest by a state act. Sixteen years after its approval, all of the Italian Regions have received the law n. 115/87 with the different acts. Nearly all regional acts provide for both the institution of specialized centres of paediatric diabetology and their individuation at local level. In Italy diabetological paediatric care is well distributed all over the national territory. Activities are operating in almost every region. Actually a lot of paediatric diabetology activities have no formal recognition and no operating autonomy and sometimes the person in charge of the activity is not a diabetologist paediatrician. In spite of what stated by ISPAD and SIEDP guidelines, this is the real situation. Perhaps in the future a larger presence of scientific societies involved in problems concerning sanitary politics about diabetes, will bring to an appreciable improvement of the quality of care system of paediatric diabetology.