Filenews 3 February 2021
The Commission's coherent plan for the treatment of cancer in the EU was presented to the press in Brussels by the Commissioner responsible for Health, Stella Kyriakidou, explaining in detail its ingredients in relation to the prevention, treatment and elimination of discrimination between Member States.
In particular, during the presentation of the Commission's proposal, Mrs Kyriakidou took a look back at the progress towards today's presentation and noted that "after 12 months of consultation, hearings and lessons learned, we are marking another important stage in this journey".
"A journey that, if I may share a more personal note, began for myself 24 years ago, when I was first diagnosed and realized the lack of information, inequality in access to care, stigma and fear associated with this disease. I knew then we had to do more and different. That the staff had to become political," the Commissioner said.
"I really have the privilege of being able to influence the lives of so many Europeans. This year finds us in the middle of a global pandemic. And this naturally affected the lives of the 2.7 million people diagnosed with cancer in the EU, while another 1.3 million Europeans died," she noted.
"We need to be very clear - unless we take urgent, decisive and far-reaching action, more and more Europeans will be diagnosed with cancer. More and more lives will be turned upside down. More and more families and loved ones will face trauma, heartache and loss, she warned.
"Starting today, with the launch of the European cancer programme, we are trying to make a difference to this in the future," she said. This Plan, she clarified, "will have a concrete impact on cancer care in the coming years, and prioritizes the well-being of patients, their families and all of our citizens at every step. This is a Plan for Hope and Resilience," adding that "this is action."
Commissioner Kyriakidou went on to say that "with this Plan, we aim to prevent - remember, up to 40% of all cancer cases can be avoided". "We will address key risk factors, not only smoking or harmful alcohol consumption, but also obesity, diet, lack of physical activity, exposure to pollution or carcinogens and infections," she said.
"Our goal is to eliminate cancers caused by human wart viruses," she said. We propose, she added, "EU support to Member States for vaccination and we aim to vaccinate at least 90% of the EU girls' population and significantly increase vaccination of boys by 2030".
"We will create a 'Smoke-Free Generation', where less than 5% of the population will use tobacco by 2040, compared to about 25% today," she noted
She also said that "we will look at promoting a healthier diet, reducing carcinogenic pollutants in food, dietary labelling and marketing of unhealthy food products. We also propose mandatory labelling of ingredients and nutrient content, as well as health warnings for alcoholic beverages."
"Early screening offers the best chance of beating cancer and saving lives," the Commissioner warned.
"We will ensure that screening programmes are up to date with the latest scientific evidence and consider extending targeted screening to prostate, lung and gastric cancer as well," she noted.
She also said that "by 2025, we will create an EU network linking recognised national cancer centres in each Member State to improve access to high quality diagnosis and care".
But, continued Mrs Kyriakidou, "to meet our ambitions, we also need a workforce that can offer". To this end, she announced that "this year, we will launch the "Training Programme for Cancer Among Specialties" to address skills shortages and support cross-border training".
According to the European Commissioner for Health 'the number of cancer survivors is increasing every year and is now estimated at over 12 million in Europe'. "We need to prioritise their well-being and that is what we are looking at in this Plan. Our goal is to ensure that patients not only survive their illness, but also that they live long, satisfying lives, free from discrimination and unjust barriers," she said.
She also said that "by 2023, we will launch the Better Life for Cancer Patients initiative, focusing on monitoring care." As part of the initiative "we will look at return to work, social inclusion and practices in the financial sector that can lead to injustice on health grounds".
"We want to ensure that all cancer patients have the same chance of survival and access to care wherever they live in the EU," she stressed.
Unfortunately, noted Mrs Kyriakidou, "today we have different access to prevention programmes across the EU. There are different rates for early detection, diagnosis, treatment and survival."
"This is unacceptable in a European Union that represents all its citizens equally," Stella Kyriakidou made clear.
"We will launch a "Cancer Inequalities Register" to identify differences between Member States and regions by 2022 - so that we can better direct our support," the Commissioner noted.
"The European cancer programme will also emphasise childhood cancers. We must also address this by recognising the different diagnostic, therapeutic and psychosocial needs of children and adolescents," she pointed out.
"For this reason, later this year, we will launch the "Helping Children with Cancer" initiative to ensure that children have access to rapid and optimal detection, diagnosis, treatment and care," she concluded.
Source: Eyenews/CYP
