Il On 1 February, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Commission co-organised a cancer conference entitled ‘Equity, excellence and innovation: modern cancer care for all’, during which leading cancer experts from healthcare and academia and high-level political delegates discussed current cancer prevention strategies in the EU, ways to improve them and the EU’s efforts to provide equitable cancer care for all.
Ensuring cancer prevention and treatment for everyone
Cancer is one of the main health challenges and the second leading cause of mortality with one in four deaths in the EU, says Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.There is a two-fold difference in cancer mortality across the EU, with wide discrepancies in screening rates. In addition, providing good quality health care is a challenge in remote areas and among less educated or low-income subpopulations. The European Registry of Cancer Inequalitieso, a flagship initiative of the European Beating Cancer Plan, seeks to identify and reduce such inequalities in cancer prevention and treatment between countries and Within them: inequalities can depend to a large extent on the socioeconomic status, sex or age of the patients.
As screening is important for early detection, the Commission has now implemented updated, science-based recommendations for cancer screening. These screening programmes cover six types of cancer, accounting for 50% of all cancer diagnoses and related deaths in the EU.
«After the summer, we will present a new recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers, as well as measures to achieve smoke-free environments, to help achieve the goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2024,» says Kyriakides.Discussions are also ongoing on the creation of a new EU-US task force that will help patients and their families cope better with cancer.
A lung cancer survivor, she focuses on developing primary care
To date, lung cancer has caused more deaths than any other disease. Mia Rajalin, a member of the board of directors of the Swedish Lung Cancer Association and a survivor of the disease, offered her and some of her allies’ testimonies on the fight against this disease. Since her diagnosis in 2017, she has received exceptional treatment. However, it took her 14 trips before she underwent an X-ray because her GP insisted she couldn’t have lung cancer because she had never smoked.
Rajalin says that most patients (70% of men and 51% of women) diagnosed with lung cancer under 40 have never smoked and report common symptoms such as coughing, fatigue and shortness of breath.Most of these patients seek primary care and, under current regulations, are not eligible for screening. «Not everyone knows that anyone can get lung cancer, and that’s what needs to be emphasized now,» Rajalin says. She advocates a more patient-centric approach, thorough testing regardless of smoking status, and the use of risk assessment tools in primary care, so that primary care physicians are better equipped for a correct diagnosis.
Estonia’s cancer campaigns
The Estonian Cancer Prevention Campaign (PrEvCan) was launched by the European Society of Oncological Nursing and the European Society of Medical Oncology in October 2022, and is expected to continue until September 2023. This campaign offers a fascinating glimpse into how a European nation is educating its citizens to reduce the burden of cancer.Doctors, nurses and students from several Estonian universities joined together to volunteer and conduct prevention awareness-raising activities. The European Code Against Cancer which lists 12 recommendations, most of which are focused on improving lifestyle, will be followed in this 12-month campaign period.
Kristi Rannus, a former cancer nurse and now a lecturer at Tallinn Health Care College in Estonia, explains that in October 2022 the campaign communicated the harmful effects of tobacco to schoolchildren, their parents and teachers with the help of a short film and conference. This has increased their awareness of the health risks caused by e-cigarettes and drawn their attention to the scientific literature.
In November and December, the PrEvCan campaign promoted smoke-free homes and workplaces and encouraged the public to maintain a healthy body weight.These messages were also widely shared through social media, which sparked further interest among Estonian citizens on how to prevent cancer while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In future campaigns, the Estonian population will be encouraged to eat a healthy diet, reduce alcohol consumption and participate in more screening programmes. All these measures aim to equip the general public and health professionals in the fight against cancer.
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