Epilepsy hunger strike ends after 30 days

After 30 days of strike hunger, the president of the Italian Association Against Epilepsy, Giovanni Battista Pesce, has interrupted his protest on July 9, 2025. The decision came as a result of the confirmation that the Technical Report required for the discussion of Bill No. 898 on epilepsy is in advanced state of definition, thanks to active collaboration with ministers Orazio Schillaci and Giancarlo Giorgetti. The strike, which began on June 10, 2025, was motivated from the failure to deliver the Technical Report by the Ministry of Health, expected in the Senate by the Commission Budget from 11 June 2024, the day on which it was formally requested. Bill No. 898, presented by Senator Licia Ronzulli on 28 September 2023, aims to fully recognize the rights and citizenship of the more 550,000 people with epilepsy in Italy. The text is currently stuck at the Senate Health Committee, awaiting the economic documentation necessary to evaluate its impact. During the strike, Pesce went to the front every Tuesday to the Ministry of Health to request the intervention of the institutions, asking for the attention of the president of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, of the ministers Marina Elvira Calderone, Alessandra Locatelli, Matteo Salvini, Orazio Schillaci, Giuseppe Valditara, and the heads of INPS and the Parliamentary committees involved. Aice declared that it found full harmony with the Ministers Schillaci and Giorgetti in defining the priorities: measures inclusive, anti-discriminatory and the use of existing funds to promote training, research and information campaigns dedicated to epilepsy. "I await the Technical Report to be formally delivered to the Senate within the institutional timeframe promised, because it is time for Parliament to recognize the rights of people with epilepsy," Pesce said.