The business of fake diseases

There isn't even one. There are no more disease-free months, weeks, or days left on the calendar. To be prevented, discovered as soon as possible, defeated, studied or told to those who are well. Cancer, alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, aids are the protagonists every year of world or Italian, regional or city days. But menopause, osteoporosis, incontinence and even constipation also have their dedicated periods, with appointments in the squares, in front of supermarkets, in clinics. Under gazebos mounted in the center, blood sugar and pressure are measured, dental and audiometric evaluations are made to passers-by. There is a stage for every problem, whether it is infectious and rare like meningitis or widespread like hypertension. Many may not know that in Italy we also celebrate Panic Attack Prevention Month. How many appointments are dedicated to diseases? At least 60 national ones a year, then there are local demonstrations and the number rises to 300. Many, including doctors, pharmacologists and managers of patient associations, are convinced that it is too high. Often the invitation to screening and the message that many do not know they have a certain pathology, as well as having positive effects, create anxieties and fears. And they consume more and more healthcare: exams, visits and medicines. This is what the pharmaceutical industry wants, which in Italy has a turnover of over 25 billion euros a year. It works to cure serious problems but also to expand the market, a bit like detergents. Days of the sick, normally important, can be an effective marketing tool, and become one of the production lines of the disease factory. What are the mechanisms used to fill our bathroom cabinets with medicines? The starting point is the well-known sentence uttered over thirty years ago by the retired Merck director, Henry Gadsen: «We dream of producing medicines for healthy people». Since then the factory has discovered many important medicines but has also produced new pathologies and new patients. Natural life events such as aging and childbirth or moods such as shyness are considered health problems today in the great race for absolute well-being. So none of us feel completely sane. Gadsen would probably be happy with that.

 

HEALTH PROBLEMS IN THE SQUARES The starting idea is worthy: to bring a disease to the streets to make it known and perhaps raise money for research and assistance. However, the system has grown dramatically. "There is a risk of encouraging the consumption of healthcare services and medicines," says Marco Bobbio, head of cardiology in Cuneo and author of the book "The Imagined Patient" for Einaudi. «Among the organizers of the days there are certainly those who have a speculative purpose. Also because no one has ever verified with scientific studies whether these initiatives help