Launch of the European Parliament Challenge Cancer Intergroup
On 1 July, I was invited to attend a webinar organised by the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) to launch the new EU Parliamentary Intergroup on cancer (The Challenge Cancer Intergroup), a cross-party group of MEPs, chaired by MEP Cristian Bușoi.
The launch of the Intergroup comes at an opportune time. COVID-19 has placed huge challenges on our health systems, which have had a direct effect on our treatment of cancer prevention and care and have highlighted the importance of collaboration and cooperation across different sectors and internationally.
During his opening session speech, Mr Bușoi stressed the importance of the Intergroup for EU health stakeholders and citizens alike, as cancer cannot be defeated individually. Speakers from the European Commission, WHO, academia and industry likewise expressed their views on the challenges and opportunities for this new cancer group.
There were panel discussions and an active Q&A session with the audience covering several topics including:
- cancer patients as a bridge between cancer research and care, focusing on reasons for cancer survivors having a low quality of life and the policy actions required to address these issues, including ensuring that cancer survivorship research is an integrated component of a translational cancer research continuum;
- the importance of long-term follow-up of cancer patients;
- promotion of social issues such as access to work and the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ law – so that cancer patients can still have access to insurance or mortgages;
- the cancer mission board, which will support effective actions as a scientific advice body, spur a recurring cycle between research, innovation and policy-making, and engage in continuous dialogue with citizens/stakeholders to complement the consultation on the Cancer Plan;
- the cancer challenges currently facing Europe - steady increase in cancer incidence (due to an ageing population) but with a fraction of the patients dying; increasing demand on personnel and skyrocketing of the costs of cancer medicines; inequalities in access to cancer care among and within countries.
What’s next
We will keep a keen eye on the Beating Cancer Plan as well as national action plans and feed into multi-stakeholder dialogue, and explore ways the NHS can benefit from and contribute to new research and EU innovation in the field of cancer in a post-Brexit context.
The slides and a recording of the session are now available for download.
Conference: European Cancer Patient Coalition, 1 July 2020
