World Cancer Day: EU proposes €4 billion plan to step up fight against cancer amid COVID

The European Commission, on the eve of World Cancer Day, proposed a regional programme for the prevention and treatment of cancer in the region. Europe's Beating Cancer Plan was unveiled on February 3, a day before the world celebrates Cancer Day. The programme will focus on developing a pathway for better prevention and treatment of the disease to ensuring cancer patients and survivors get quality of life. The €4 billion Cancer Plan will be implemented using a host of EU funding instruments, including EU4Health programme, Horizon Europe, and the Digital Europe programme.

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"In 2020, while we were all fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us were fighting a silent battle. The battle against cancer. In 2020, we lost 1.3 million Europeans to this disease. And sadly, the number of cases is on the rise. This is why we present Europe's Beating Cancer Plan today. The fight of those battling cancer is our fight as well, in Europe," Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission said in a statement. 

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The new Cancer Plan

The EU plans to vaccinate at least 90% of the target population of girls and to significantly increase the vaccination of boys by 2030. The EU will prevent the risk of cancer by addressing key factors such as tobacco, harmful alcohol consumption, environmental pollution, and hazardous substances. The Commission plans to bring down the population that uses tobacco to below 5% by 2040. Additionally, the EU will also promote healthy diets and physical activities through 'HealthyLifestyle4All' campaign. 

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The EU plans to significantly increase the number of screening centers across the region by 2025 in order to ensure that 90% of the EU population who qualify for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer get the diagnostics support needed for early detection. The EU will put forward a new Cancer Screening Scheme to ensure people get access to screening centers. The proposed plan will also ensure that 90% of eligible patients get access to National Comprehensive Cancer Centres linked through a new EU-Network by 2030. The plan also includes providing quality of life to cancer patients and survivors through ‘Better Life for Cancer Patients Initiative', focusing on follow-up care.

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(Image Credit: AP)