In the Italian language one term «cura» is used to express both the complex therapeutic equipment and procedures used to fight the disease (to cure), as well as the wider and more general attention and concern towards the suffering and fragility of others (to take care of). This polysemy conceals the parallel course of which the two dimensions of care have been the protagonists since the origin of scientific medicine, and which is now making a comeback given the emergence of some phenomena culminating in the incurability of the patient. Yet, to avoid the risk of a sterile reductionism or a mere juxtaposition, it is necessary to go back to the most ancient roots of such an antithesis, going back over the history of medicine from its mythological origins to the beginning of clinical medicine.only subscribers can see the full article

The essay examines the relations between families and welfare, with particular reference to policies for reconciling work and family life and for looking after minors. By examining legislation and the most recent reforms on the subject, it analyses the developments in five European countries: Germany and France for the Continental Europe, Sweden for the Scandinavian countries, the Uk for the Anglosaxon Europe, and Italy for the Mediterranean cluster. The analysis focuses on innovative elements that tend to delineate a different system of social policies that has not yet fully established itself, but that can already give us a glimpse of some future developments that could lead to new ways of balancing family care, involvement in the jobs market and public-sector functions in a framework where the family and the welfare system will complement each other more and more. This general trend towards a multiplicity of supply channels means there will be a greater mixture of services and monetary and juridical recognition of caregiving, but the outcomes of the reforms still vary considerably from one country to another.only subscribers can see the full article

Many studies on services for small children underline the importance of the availability of these facilities for female employment. This work offers an account of the provision of these services in Italy with the aim of identifying the link between young women’s presence in the labour market and the availability of care services for early childhood and for old age; it also sketches an analysis of the relation between the presence of services and fertility rates. A factorial analysis leads to a geography of local welfare in Italy, the picture that emerges being marked by strongly contrasting levels of provision in different areas.only subscribers can see the full article

The author suggests a reflection on the wide theme of supplementary health insurance schemes, which could help to clarify the real or presumed risks of their diffusion and on the definitions of the most opportune modalities and measures to contrast the risks of diversified access to care services. Considering rather simplistic an analysis which looks at the presence of these schemes as an alternative to the Nhs, the author insists on the centrality of an efficient and effective distribution of essential levels of care. At the same time, he considers opportune and advantageous to overcome hostile positions, that are often the prelude to mechanisms of progressive adaptation that lead to unsatisfactory benefits.only subscribers can see the full article