More cancer screening needed in EU, concludes EC report

The Commission adopted its Report on the Implementation of the Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening (2003/878/EC). The report shows that although much progress has been made in cancer screening, the EU as a whole is only about half way to meeting the minimum annual number of examinations that would be expected if the screening tests specified in the Recommendation were available to all EU citizens of the appropriate age (approximately 125 million examinations per year. From the current volume of examinations, only 41% are performed in population-based programmes which provide the organisational framework for implementing quality assurance as required by the Council recommendation.

Additional efforts to improve and maintain high quality screening programmes to more efficiently
combat cancer should therefore be made at Member State as well as EU level. By providing a clear overview of the situation, this Report encourages Member States to renew their efforts to fulfil the commitments laid down in the Recommendation.

In order to meet the health challenges caused by cancer across the Union, the Commission also intends to form a European partnership for action against cancer in 2009. This partnership will bring together relevant stakeholders across the EU in a collective effort to address the burden of cancer.

The Report on the Implementation of the Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_information/dissemination/diseases/cancer_en.htm

The Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:327:0034:0038:EN:PDF

Kind regards,
Michi Geissler
ECPC Secretariat