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2021’s European Cancer Summit Declaration – Practical Advice on Turning Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan Into a Brighter Future for Cancer Care

19 November 2021

2021 will be remembered for more than Covid-19. Stakeholders gathered at the European Cancer Summit this week also expressed optimism for the future based on the landmark publication of Europe’s Beating Cancer in February of this year.

Sessions of the event gave focus and recommendations on how the almost 40 different EU initiatives being taken forward as part of the Plan can achieve the greatest impact. Summarised in the ‘European Cancer Summit 2021 Declaration’, key points raised include:

  • The need to take forward an EU agenda supporting earlier detection of cancer across all tumour types by developing Council Recommendations on Cancer Screening and Early Detection.
  • Accelerating the adoption of digital technology’s promise for cancer care by addressing complaints of barriers created by the GDPR regulation, setting firm targets on EU data interoperability and taking actions to boost the digital literacy of the public and healthcare professionals
  • Addressing sustained shortages in the oncology workforce. This should include the provision of workforce mapping within new EU level post pandemic health emergency planning structures.
  • Providing greater commitment to combatting inequalities in cancer care across Europe related to social determinants such as age, ethnicity, gender and social marginalisation.

The full Summit Declaration is available here.

Commenting on the Declaration, Matti Aapro, President of the European Cancer Organisation, said:

“This year’s European Cancer Summit came at an important time. Six months on from the publication of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, it was a good opportunity to look at its progress and bring the cancer community together to offer its advice for the next stages of the implementation journey. The Summit Declaration is a synthesis of our recommendations. There is so much great content in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the challenge now, as the proposals turn into reality, is really ensuring we maximise the value forcitizens and  patients from each initiative. That requires regular self-scrutiny and auditing for new opportunity. We hope our Declaration helps to serve some of that purpose.”

Read and endorse the Summit Declaration here.


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