Treating cancer: the EU's commitment to tackling cancer inequalities

The information day “Treating Cancer: The EU's Commitment to Cancer Inequalities” aims to present the framework of cancer inequalities at EU and international level and to illustrate projects that can contribute to the exchange of experiences and collaboration between countries to address a global challenge and contribute to the reduction of cancer inequalities.

In continuity with the initiative implemented by some Italian Europe Direct Information centres “Yes, we can (no can/cer) information cycle: Europe's Beating Cancer Plan. Focusing on breast and lung” carried out in 2023, the event will focus on the "European Cancer Inequalities Registry", a flagship initiative of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan  aimed at providing valid and reliable data on cancer prevention and treatment to identify trends, disparities and inequalities between Member States and regions. The Registry proposes a framework at European level to monitor disparities and report on trends in cancer prevention and treatment at regional, national and EU levels. As the purpose of the Registry is to monitor the entire cancer journey, the four pillars of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan: prevention; early diagnosis; diagnosis and treatment; quality of life – are at the heart of the scoreboard.

A total of 29 country cancer profiles (EU-27, Iceland and Norway) were produced for the first publication, with the help of the OECD, which serve as a tool to identify inequalities in cancer prevention and treatment. They highlight the main achievements, challenges and disparities within each country and compare the performance of individual countries with the situation in the EU as a whole. This helps policymakers and helps to steer investment and action at regional, national and EU level under the umbrella of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.

Profiles show that EU countries spent substantial sums, almost €170 billion, on cancer treatment (in 2018). Another important finding is that there are also large inequalities in cancer death rates between and within EU countries. This can be partly explained by the different degrees of exposure to cancer risk factors, but also by the different capacities of health systems to ensure timely and free access to early diagnosis and the high quality of cancer care and treatment. The profiles show that identifying challenges and sharing best practices among Member States can help countries reduce cancer inequalities.

During the day, some good practices will be presented such as:

• the project carried out by the NGO Elis and the Agency for Development Cooperation in collaboration with the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, which has established the first Breast Unit in Palestine, a multidisciplinary breast center that guarantees diagnosis and treatment to Palestinian women to intervene promptly on breast cancer
• Dress P.I.N.K  (Prevention, Imaging, Network and Knowledge) project, an open science project of the CNR supported by the Veronesi Foundation, aimed at promoting the earliest possible diagnosis of cancer through the personalization of different diagnostic techniques
• The actions of the Cam to Me Association, a small association of lay missionaries that intervenes in Cambodia, Cameroon and Peru. In particular, in Cambodia it carries out support and care activities in an area of ​​Lake 94, where women in extreme situations are treated because they often arrive in very serious oncological conditions so as not to abandon the care of the children for whom they constitute the only form of sustenance
• smartCARE project, a flagship initiative in Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, under the EU4Health Programme 2021-2027. The project is developing a cancer survivor smart card - in the form of a mobile app - to improve the health and wellbeing of cancer survivors throughout Europe; it’s implemented by a multi-partners consortium led by European Cancer Organisation. It will be presented also the European Cancer Pulse, a continually evolving data visualisation tool that features over 13,000 data points and over 250 indicators on inequalities in cancer across the 50 countries that make up the WHO European region

The event will be divided in two phases. In the morning there will be an informative session open to all citizens and media where WHO's and EU action to reduce cancer inequalities at the international level will be presented together with some existing practices of projects implemented in this field. In the afternoon it will be held a roundtable with the identified International Associations and NGOs who will work on drawing up a charter to list the next steps and joint actions to be undertaken to sensitize governments and other key players on the importance of reducing cancer inequalities and of implementing concrete measures in coherence with Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.

The participants to this session will be:

• the key Italian stakeholders which were already partners of the initiative “Yes, we can (no can/cer) information cycle: Europe's Beating Cancer Plan. Focusing on breast and lung”
• Some associations located in Italy but operating at European level
• International associations and NGOs operating in the field of improving the assistance and the quality of oncological care

The morning session of the event will be streamed live (link coming soon)