“RED DRESS ITALIA” WORKS HARD FOR WOMEN’S HEART HEALTH
The Italian Heart Foundation’s history of attention to the special health needs of women became longer and more illustrious with the launch of the Go Red for Women national campaign for Italy, formally called Red Dress Italia.
The launch took place in February 2007 in Milan during the city’s two annual fashion weeks, at which hundreds of buyers sought garments for the following autumn and winter.
One of the most impressive garments on display was not for sale and could not be worn. Nevertheless, it attracted much attention and generated much commentary. The garment was a gigantic and elegant red dress suspended from ceiling to floor.
Created by Margherita Paglia, a student at the fashion school of the University of Milan, the dress of approximately four metres length graced Red Dress Italia’s public booth at the event. The dress was meant to symbolize both the campaign itself and the collaboration between the world’s of science and fashion.
Indeed, the fashion industry, as represented by the Italian National Fashion Chamber, is one of Red Dress Italia’s principal patrons. Among the many others are the Italian ministries of health and equal opportunities, the Italian Federation of Cardiology, the National Association of Italian Municipalities, the Italian Federation of Professional Nurses, the Italian Association against Stroke and the Federation of the Italian Hospital Associations of Internal Medicine.
Strong emphasis on science
Distinct among the approximately 30 other Go Red for Women national campaigns, Red Dress Italia strongly promotes scientific research into the causes and particular manifestations of cardiovascular disease in women.
For example, one of the major goals of the campaign is to create a Network of Centres of Excellence in both basic and clinical science and specifically dedicated to women’s health.
“The network will serve as an information clearinghouse and as a means to create synergies among researchers to avoid duplication of effort,” said Italian Heart Foundation General Manager Emanuela Folco.
More than a dozen prestigious scientific bodies have already expressed interest in joining the network. Among them are the Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, the Monzino Cardiologic Centre, the G. Pascale National Oncology Institute and various medical faculties of the universities of Brescia, Florence, Milan, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Pisa and Rome.
Red Dress Italia has a scientific committee whose members are experts in the field of women’s health at national and international level. Additional committees are responsible for strategy, planning and communication.
Long history
The Italian Heart Foundation’s distinguished history of involvement in science of women’s health goes back at least to the mid 1990s. Then, in collaboration with the Giovanni Lorenzini Foundation, it organized five international symposia on the health of menopausal women. In 1996, it contributed to the preparation of the European position paper “Hormone Replacement and Menopause” that appeared in European Menopause Journal. In 2002, it contributed to the “International Position Paper on Women’s Health and Menopause” in collaboration with the United States’ National Institutes of Health.
Since then, the Italian Heart Foundation has continued to promote research into the health needs of menopausal women – that is, of women whose bodies have stopped producing the hormone estrogen as part of the normal ageing process. In November 2007, it was instrumental in the founding of the Italian Society for Gender Health and Medicine and the European Society for Gender Health and Medicine.
Prevention remains key
Red Dress Italia has not overlooked the traditional responsibility of Go Red for Women national campaigns to raise awareness about the risk factors of cardiovascular disease and the simple yet effective lifestyle changes that can mitigate the risks of a heart attack or stroke.
With its motto “A healthy woman is also a healthy society,” Red Dress Italia works hard to educate women and their health-care providers.
At the Milan Fashion Show, posters were displayed and materials distributed that highlighted cardiovascular disease’s position as the leading killer of Italian men and women. During the Milan Fashion Weeks of September 2007 and February 2008, there were free health screenings and free counselling about the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
“The need is great,” Dr Folco said. “In 2002, 24% more Italian women than men died of cardiovascular disease. Too many Italian women do not even know that they are at risk. We aim to fix that.”
