May 26, 2023, Breaking Latest News: More space at the Mafalda Luce Center for autistic children in Milan – Healthcare https://www.breakinglatest.news/health/more-space-at-the-mafalda-luce-center-for-autistic-children-in-milan-healthcare/
Ribbon cutting for the new spaces of the Mafalda Luce Center in Milan, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary, managed by the Renato Piatti foundation, a branded body that follows people with intellectual disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders: the expansion will make it possible to respond to the great demand of taking charge of the territory. In two years, from 2021 to 2023, the number of children followed up doubled, going from 115 to 230, and it is estimated that from 2024, the number of children treated for autism spectrum disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders could even reach 300 a year. In Italy there are about 5,000 new cases of autism every year, an average of 14 a day, and waiting times to access treatment programs are on average two years:
“In all our centers for minors we observe an increase in the number of children and families on the waiting list of rehabilitation services for autistic spectrum disorders” explains the president of the Piatti Foundation and Anffas Lombardia Emilio Rota. This is why “our commitment is aimed at offering increasingly adequate responses that give support to families and fragile children”. The Minister for Disabilities, Alessandra Locatelli, also intervenes, recalling: “There is a need to enrich and expand the services and the offer, also in support of families. I hope that this work can be done in an ever closer and more in collaboration with all institutions, including national ones”.
For the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, “in this period we are seeing a proliferation of situations which above all concern young people with psychiatric problems and the really high numbers of the autism spectrum in Italy. To deal with the problem, taking charge and timeliness is necessary. This is the only way to give positive answers for the person and the family and achieve everyone’s dream: independence”.
