Long Life to the Women. The Reorganization of Early Detection of Breast Cancer in Bologna (2010 - 2016)

The work originates from the analysis of a concrete case study concerning the metropolitan area of the city of Bologna and the solutions adopted after 2010 by the local health authorities to address the problems of waiting lists (and the control of spending) for the individual services of early detection of breast cancer, essentially redirecting the services toward the screening of public health. The papers highlight the characteristics of this reorganization, the implications on the maintenance of the founding principles of the Italian National Health Service, specifically for equity, and the costs directly borne by women to pay for services previously offered. The control systems of the organization and provision of the services within the National Health Service are investigated and their effectiveness or inability to protect the founding principles are highlighted. Through the data (accessed as citizen in Generalized Civic Access) on the access to the mammographic services, the choices of women and how they have dealt with the reorganization of the offer in Bologna were studied up to 2016. The effect of this reorganization on the access to the mammographic services by women was compared with external shocks that occurred at the same time. The book closes with a paper on the current role of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 and the National Health Equity Program 2021-2027 for women’s health and in particular for the early detection of breast cancer.