{"id":2975,"date":"2025-01-31T15:41:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T15:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2975"},"modified":"2025-01-31T15:41:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T15:41:42","slug":"eu-health-experts-take-to-the-road-to-boost-cancer-screening-and-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2975\/eu-health-experts-take-to-the-road-to-boost-cancer-screening-and-prevention\/","title":{"rendered":"EU health experts take to the road to boost cancer screening and prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU\u2019s Cancer Mission Bus Roadshow is bringing experts in cancer prevention and early detection to communities across Europe, as part of a push to improve the lives of millions.<\/p>\n

By<\/em> Anthony King<\/p>\n

In the village of Lere\u0219ti, in the centre of Romania, a bus with a purpose pulled up last August. Having already travelled through Lithuania and Poland, it was on the third of its five stops in Romania, on a mission to raise awareness of cancer \u2013 both ways to prevent it and options for treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis village has a lot of elderly people, with only three family doctors and limited access to healthcare,\u201d said Dr Marius Geant\u0103, president of the Center for Innovation in Medicine (InoMed) in Bucharest. \u201cThe bus gave people here a rare chance to engage with experts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaging citizens<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the summer of 2024, the Cancer Mission Bus Roadshow\u00a0visited 15 stops across Lithuania, Poland and Romania, attracting 16\u00a0800 visitors. Its aim was to help increase knowledge of cancer and cancer prevention, as well as screening, particularly in more remote rural areas.<\/p>\n

This roadshow is part of the EU\u2019s\u00a0Cancer Mission<\/a>, which aims to significantly improve the lives of cancer sufferers and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have set a target of improving the lives of 3 million people by 2030, concentrating on prevention, treatment and quality of life for cancer patients and survivors,\u201d said\u00a0Joanna Drake, head of the EU Cancer Mission.<\/p>\n

Drake acknowledges that a big part of the bus roadshow was about engaging communities. Over 66 different organisations were involved in supporting the roadshow, including national and local authorities, hospitals and patient organisations. Such involvement could help to overcome fragmentation and create more partnerships and joined-up thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the presence and dynamic you create and harnessing the involvement of both practitioners and national authorities,\u201d said Drake.<\/p>\n

Now the intention is to take the roadshow to as many EU countries as possible after the initial three-country pilot.<\/p>\n

Drake also highlighted the important multiplier effect that the roadshow has had on raising awareness. In addition to in-person visitors to the bus, another 11 million people interacted with the roadshow via social media, and news about the events was broadcast on TV, radio and the internet.<\/p>\n

Building hope<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the bus arrived in Lere\u0219ti, people were ready. This was thanks to the effective networking and planning carried out earlier as part of a multi-country EU-funded initiative called 4P-CAN, coordinated by Geant\u0103.<\/p>\n

The aim of the 4P-CAN team is to actively involve citizens and local decision-makers in designing and implementing personalised cancer prevention initiatives. It is doing so through an approach called Living Labs, through which they collect and analyse socio-demographic and health data from local residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day the bus stopped in Lere\u0219ti, we activated our networks of citizens and local stakeholders in the community, who mobilised people to visit,\u201d said Geant\u0103.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor primary cancer prevention, this should be the approach: to go in at the community level, interact with citizens and understand how the local authorities can be activated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message was also predominantly a positive one. With a combination of healthy living, preventative screening and improved treatment plans, more people can avoid the most devastating impacts of dealing with cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I found interesting was the emphasis on prevention and not viewing cancer as a death sentence,\u201d said one visitor to the bus in Romania. \u201cI met two survivors \u2013 one of them a girl who said that by having annual screenings, she discovered the cancer at an early stage, followed the necessary treatments and her body responded very well. She was full of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the Living Lab in Lere\u0219ti, a second will be established in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, giving citizens there the opportunity to share their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours related to cancer prevention and a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Working together<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the EU, 2.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually, according to the European Commission, a number predicted to reach 3.2 million by 2040 without further action.<\/p>\n

Drake pointed to estimates that as many as 40% of cancers could be prevented or cured if detected earlier. The problem, she said, is that participation in screening programmes is still too low. That is why raising awareness, particularly in more remote areas, is so important.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope is not a level playing field, not only in awareness, but also in accessibility to diagnostics and treatments,\u201d said Drake. \u201cReaching out to people where they are can help them to do the right thing at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Drake, the EU can make an important contribution to the fight against cancer alongside national authorities, research institutes and healthcare facilities. Part of this is through funding of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past three to four years, we have already allocated nearly\u00a0\u20ac500 million to advance cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for patients \u2013 and also the survivors,\u201d said Drake.<\/p>\n

Another, perhaps equally important, aspect though is its role in creating and building partnerships between research and public health policy, and mobilising communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to enhance quality of life by bringing together research and public health policies \u2013 which is, by the way, not always the case \u2013 and actively engaging with the EU Member States and communities at large,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Hubs for change<\/strong><\/p>\n

The need to improve communication and coordination on cancer, both within and between different countries, is something that Anabela Isidro, a microbiologist and board member at the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation in Lisbon, Portugal, is keenly aware of.<\/p>\n

Isidro is coordinating an EU-funded collaboration called ECHoS that involves over 60 organisations in 30 countries to set up National Cancer Mission Hubs across Europe. Their aim is to help ensure that national and local policymaking reflects current cancer research and healthcare efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, we want to break down silos and inequalities,\u201d said Isidro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hubs are a way to ensure we help countries not at the same speed as others in building the right structures to implement the EU Cancer Mission. We also want to work with regions within countries, because there are different realities from region to region.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Isidro, the Cancer Bus Roadshow was a compelling way of engaging people and she shared her hope that initiatives such as these could lead to big change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that by 2030, we will have a real improvement in the lives of people living with cancer and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research in this article was funded by the EU\u2019s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. <\/em><\/p>\n

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