For the World Thalassaemia Day, on Sunday the 8th May, IME Foundation, built up by the Italian Government and Lazio Region, let everybody know about the initiatives they are committed to in these days, with reference to their Thalassaemia International Project.

This Project is an institutional intervention amongst the international development and cooperation actions, with particular reference to the Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern areas and South-Eastern Asia.

These areas are the most affected by Thalassaemia, a pathology being one of the major death causes for children, in the so-called poor countries of the world.

The Project, which is in the topical moment of its development, overcomes the traditional ways of offering solidarity and proposes a network model, based on meeting, exchange and reciprocity.

IME Foundation offers the extraordinary skills and experience of their clinical-scientifical directors, Prof. Franco Mandelli for haematological diseases, leukaemia in particular, and Prof. Guido Lucarelli, for hemoglobinopathologies, in particular Thalassaemia. Prof. Guido Lucarelli is considered to be the first throughout the world in the Thalassaemia treatment with bone marrow transplant.

The IME best centers network in Italy includes:

Policlinico Universitario Tor Vergata;

Policlinico Universitario Umberto I di Roma;

Ospedale San Raffaele in Milano;

Ospedale Pediatrico Gaslini in Genua;

Ospedale Pediatrico Mayer in Florence. 

In these centres, IME started treating children and teaching physicians, biologists, nurses coming from Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, India, Pakistan, Maldives and United Arab Emirates.

Besides that, IME commit themselves on the spot to build up:

* Hospitals for the bone marrow transplants in the countries partners;

* Health structures for the primary health care;

* Connection networks plants, above all in the crisis areas (Palestine and Iraq).

IME Foundation and Save Children's Life onlus recently launched a very important fund raising campaign, to send money for children rights and health tutelage, living in those high-risky countries about these issues, due to lack of resources, too.

The initiative One Euro for Life, set up in cooperation with the Association of the Italian Tour Operators, getting the mass media involved, too, is based on a voluntary contribution of the Italian tourists for every day of their voyage.

By a simple gesture, we can immediately support the real treatment intervention against thalassaemia for 450.000 children in South East Asia.

The first country who will benefit of the initiative "1 Euro for Life" will be the Republic of Maldives, where on 8th May in Male an agreement with Mr Ilja Gardi, Commissar of IME Foundation and Save Children's Life, the Society for Health Education (SHE) was signed, in the presence of the Minister of Health, of the First Lady, of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Maldives, and of the Italian Ambassador in Colombo, Mr Zotta, and the Italian Consul in Male, Ms Giorgia Marazzi.

In the meetings a strong interest of the Governments of the Region to adopt an effective plan against thalassaemia together with Italy raised. At the next conferente of SAARC (an association of the Indian subcontinent countries, including Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Buthan) will be proposed an inter governments conference, arranged by Maldives and Italy, to start up the project in the area, having out 1,5 billion people the highest rate of children suffering from thalassaemia in the world.