Brussels, 16/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - During an official ceremony to celebrate 30 years of European anti-cancer action on 15 September in Luxembourg, the Commissioner for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, and the Luxembourg Minister for Health, Lydia Mutsch, emphasised that the fight against cancer remained a European health policy priority.
Commissioner Andriukaitis stressed that “the 30th anniversary we are celebrating today is an opportunity for us to renew our shared commitment (…) to prevent cancer as far as possible, to ensure equality and to maximise quality of life for each and every citizen”. Mutsch added that, although health remained within the national remit, “it is obvious that joint European action can bring considerable added value by more effectively tackling major health challenges”.
In his speech, Vytenis Andriukaitis pointed out that the fight against cancer is one of the most long-standing areas of European action adopted in the health field. Both participants drew up a balance sheet of the European action taken in the fight against this disease and the different successes obtained. As pointed out by the Commissioner, European action mainly focuses on prevention, screening and health checks.
Since the Community action programme against cancer was developed in 1985, the European Commission has been involved in follow-up action and in 1987 the Commissioner explained that a European code against cancer was introduced that had been revised last year. Andriukaitis indicated that this remained “a key tool in our efforts to prevent cancer and promote early detection as well as early treatment”.
The Commission then focused its work on prevention by examining risk factors. The Commissioner explained that prevention policies and access to early diagnosis were “crucial”. Three major risk factors were identified: tobacco, alcohol abuse and obesity. In the 2009 communication, “Action against Cancer”, the Commission set out its objective to reduce the cancer rate by 2020 in the EU by 15%. At the same time, many member states developed national strategies for fighting cancer that received the backing of the Commission.
The Commission has now inaugurated a new phase and joint action planned for improving the quality of the global fight against cancer. The Commissioner added that in the future, they needed to take “full advantage” of new technologies, by promoting online medicine and e-health in an effort to improve prevention and cancer treatments. The Commissioner concluded by highlighting the need to maintain a long-term vision in this struggle. (Isabelle Lamberty)
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