The second Cancon Policy conference took place on 16 September 2016 at the Italian Ministry of Health in Rome. The event organised by the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) with the Lega Italiana per la Lotta ai Tumori (LILT) and the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Health, focused on European-wide effort on cancer control. The aim of the conference was to generate a policy dialogue on how experts can collaborate from around Europe in an effort to decrease cancer inequities, namely in prevention policies, access to innovation and access to rehabilitation programmes.
The conference brought together policy makers, academics, the medical community and cancer patients to discuss the role of policy-making in strengthening cancer control efforts both in the European Union and in Italy. UICC staff represented the International Cancer Control Partnership (ICCP) at the meeting.
About Cancon
Cancon (officially European Guide on Quality Improvement in Comprehensive Cancer Control or CanCon) is a joint action initiative, co-funded by participating organisations, institutes, universities and health care units, and the European Union.
Cancon aims to contribute in different ways to reducing the cancer burden in the EU. It will help raise cancer survival and reduce cancer mortality by:
- Improving the quality of cancer care among member states;
- Improving the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors with proposals on survivorship;
- Ensuring reintegration and palliative care and a decrease in inequalities at various levels of the cancer control field.
UICC spoke with Mr. Tit Albreht, project coordinator of the Cancon initiative from the National Institute of Public Health of Slovenia on CanCons goals and ambitions and the need of cross-border initiatives to reduce cancer burden and raising the quality of life of all cancer patients.
Focus on survivorship
Due to the improvement in early detection and the dramatic change in the field of cancer therapy, survivorship is becoming more and more important. Given that, survivorship was one of the key topics addressed at the conference. The event focused on the fight against inequities in cancer care and the creation of a European model for the establishment of national survivorship care plans (SCPs). An interesting panel discussion on improving the quality of life of patients and survivor took place.
During an Interview with Mr. Julien Tognetti, project officer of Cancon Work Package 8 Survivorship and rehabilitation from the French National Cancer Institute, we discussed the importance of focusing on survivorship, how quality can be measured and what is needed to implement survivorship as relevant part of the cancer continuum.
National level and screening policies
The morning session focused on the national perspectives. It was inspired by the work done by the Members of European Parliament against Cancer (MAC) group, an all-party initiative providing MEPs with a forum to discuss cancer policy at the EU level.
A panel discussion on Prevention for successful cancer control focused on good practices in the planning, implementation, management and evaluation of the population-based cancer screening, as a part of national cancer control policies across the European Union member states. Another panel discussion, involving European and Italian Parliamentarians, representatives of the EU Commission and the National Institute of Health of Italy as well as oncology association, addressed the subject of access to innovative cancer treatments in Europe and in Italy.