Health Promotion and care of immigrant population in the eighth Municipality of Rome: the experience of the Medicine Service of Solidarity and the University Hospital of Tor Vergata

The VIII Municipality of Rome is characterized by a high poverty rate, by the presence of many immigrant communities and by the lack of health services available to vulnerable social groups. In 2005 , the " Servizio di Medicina Solidale" of the University Hospital of "Tor Vergata", for the first time intervened in this Municipality regarding Immigrant Health. The paper describes the activities and organization of this service from January 2005 to December 2007. It demonstrates a complex epidemiological picture of 2,374 immigrants, characterized by a young population, mostly women with reproductive health issues, followed by children with infectious and nutritional problems and, ultimately, adults who accessed the service, firstly for gastroenterological problems, secondly for cardiovascular problems and finally for dysmetabolic disorders. The paper describes the culture-centered actions of Health Promotion and Health Education in order to improve health awareness and promote integration of immigrants. The study indicates that the limited number of hospital admissions ( n.20) with respect to the number of outpatient visits (n.70.000) in the first seven years of the service " Medicina Solidale" has significantly reduced the number of unnecessary admissions to emergency wards. In conclusion it is notable that the cost of such intervention results eight times inferior to emergency admissions and further confirms that a Community medicine approach is sustainable.