Italy shows the way on AED policy, as draft legislation promises major market hike
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Wide-ranging Italian plans to improve the efficiency of public health services, with a focus on preventive health, promise a major increase in the supply of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). All amateur and professional sports clubs would be required by law to install AEDs and ensure their appropriate access and use, according to the latest amendments of the draft so-called Balduzzi Decree, which has been approved by the cabinet of ministers for further parliamentary scrutiny. Italy has long been a model of cardiac screening of young sportspeople, but a spate of high-profile cases of cardiac arrest among both amateur and professional sportsmen, in Italy and other countries, have thrust AED access policy onto the preventive health agenda internationally.