ProMIS, established in 2015 is helping Italian regions and actors to collaborate. It provides support in accessing European funds, promotes international research in public health, and facilitates the sharing of best practices.
By Antonio Maritati
Programma Mattone Internazionale Salute
ProMIS builds on the work of the Progetto Mattone Internazionale (PMI) pilot project. PMI was established to strengthen regional cooperation and links between Italian regional health practices and polices, and the European initiatives on health and health systems.
In particular, PMI focused on capacity building and knowledge sharing for all the key health actors in Italy (e.g. regional authorities, hospitals, etc.) in order to promote across Italy the dissemination of EU policy and of opportunities to access EU and international programmes and funds for health, research and innovation.
In 2015 the Health Commission of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces Conference agreed to make PMI a permanent support mechanism for regions to help them in their international work. This is now known as ProMiS, led by the Veneto Region under the direction of the Ministry of Health. This step was taken due to PMI’s success in a) involving all key health sector actors; b) representing an innovative model of governance that supports access to European funds; c) disseminating project methodologies, developing proposals and communicating results; d) setting an excellent capacity building methodology, including sharing information on project methodologies and network working that facilitated international research activities in the field of public health.
The main activities of ProMIS include:
- Providing information, dissemination and training;
- Capacity building for public administrations at all levels;
- Responding to the needs of Italian Regions and local social-healthcare authorities;
- Supporting clusters of Italian organisations to participate in national, European, and transnational consortia and initiatives;
- Supporting the transfer of knowledge and competencies within the network of regions and public authorities, and beyond at EU level.
- Information exchange with EU institutions, in order to exchange information, scale up existing practices, and participate in European networks.
- Identifying specific social and health priorities and expertise.
- Identifying common goals and foci amongst Italian regions to establish consortia and partnerships
- liaising with European partners on related themes
- Responding to European project calls
- Producing a monthly newsletter covering European and Italian news.
ProMIS staff collaborate with the ministry of health, Italian regions, health authorities, and other interested stakeholders.
Topics covered include digital innovation, health tourism, and active and healthy ageing.
On healthy ageing
ProMIS is involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy ageing. It has, for example, helped Italian regions to apply to become reference sites. It has also started to find ways to share best practices and experiences through information days, themed workshops, and specific sections on the website.
On health tourism
A group assessing the challenges of health tourism has been created, with ProMIS becoming a link between regions on this issue. The group is assessing the latest developments in health tourism current sate of health tourism in Italy, and developing a strategy on the management of health tourism. It also aims to create a national statement on health tourism, including an analysis of trends, features, and requirements.
To find out more about ProMIS visit www.promisalute.it
Antonio Maritati
Antonio Maritati is the Coordinator of the PROMIS and Director of the Health and Social Affairs Department in the Veneto Region. With a degree in Political Science, A.
Maritati is an administration manager with 20 years of experience in the field of health. He held roles of increasing responsibilities in the sector of hospitals administration and since the 2012 he has been a member of the SISAC Coordination Office and since 2014 of the Management Board of the FoRST Foundation.