European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said today that disparities between countries and regions of the same country in terms of cancer treatment are unacceptable in the European Union (EU).
“Everyone in the EU, wherever they live, should have the same opportunity to prevent, treat and survive cancer,” he also said at the opening of the 2023 Cancer Conference about “eliminating disparities in care” associated with the disease.
Kyriakides noted that mortality rates, risk factors and access to care vary greatly, adding that people with lower levels of education and lower incomes are “hardest hit” and that access to care is more limited in remote areas.
He indicated that the conference aims to “join forces” and “emphasize the importance of ensuring equal access to cancer treatment.”
According to the commissioner, “tackling inequality (…) will be challenging”, but the chances of success “will be higher” if the causes of inequality are identified and understood.
The commitment, made under the European Cancer Plan launched in 2021, “can only be achieved by closing the unacceptable divisions” that currently exist in the EU, he insisted.
One of the “major initiatives” under the plan, the first European Cancer Inequality Registry, produced the “first set of country profiles of cancer” to be made public at the conference.
According to this analysis, the disease is the second cause of death “accounting for one in four lives lost in the EU” and “lung cancer remains the most common cause of cancer death” in all member states.
The European Commissioner for Health also said that more than 30 initiatives are planned for this year under the European Cancer Plan, specifying that “a new recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers” will be presented after the summer, as well as as “smoke-free measures to help achieve the goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2024”.
The 29 cancer profiles (including Norway and Iceland) show that EU countries spent almost 200 billion euros on cancer treatment in 2018.
A study organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission believes that large differences in mortality rates can be partly explained by “variable exposure to cancer risk factors, as well as varying health capacities.” systems to ensure timely and free access to early diagnosis, as well as quality care and treatment.”
The profiles can help policy makers as well as guide investments and activities at the regional, national and EU levels within the European Cancer Plan.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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