European Partnership for Action Against Cancer: Report from the 2nd preparatory meeting


Dear ECPC Member,

as many of you have stated interest to be updated on progress about the European Partnership for Action against Cancer, we wanted to report about the most recent planning meeting in Luxembourg.

The second preparatory meeting for the European Partnership for Action against Cancer was held on 28 January 2009. The purpose of the meeting was to agree on the activities within the core work packages of the joint action on cancer that would be proposed for the period of the following three years (2010-2013), to identify leaders for each work package, and to agree on the way forward.

ECPC has advocated on behalf of its member organisations, and has suggested to include its member organisations in key activities of the Partnership to make sure it meets patients' needs.  In recognition of our energy and enthusiasm for taking the Partnership forward, ECPC has now been offered a seat in the Partnership's Steering Group together with Members States and Commission officials.

In addition to contributing the patients' voices to work packages that other stakeholders are coordinating, ECPC has proposed two key activities which were well received:

The "Virtual Partnership" should become an internet collaboration platform that will enable all partners to collaborate via the Internet, and encourage the public to contribute ideas. Discussions are now going on how and when such a platform could be implemented.

The "Young Europeans in the Partnership" (YEP) should acknowledge the important role of young people, and engage them with youth-driven energy and un-fettered inspiration using "Social Media". It would be established as a cross-cutting issue covering all issues that the Partnership will address. It would allow young people from across Europe to be involved in the Partnership.

ECPC's Board Member Tom van der Wal has already developed pilot websites for the Virtual Partnership and the Youth Partnership, which have earned the respect from stakeholders. In addition, ECPC's Board members President Tom Hudson, Tom van der Wal and Simona  Ene have already started some focus groups and discussions on the YEP initiative in their countries to collect input from youth communities to further scope the activity.

As a next step, a funding proposal needs to be submitted to the Commission which describes the work packages as well as the budget required to implement each of them. The deadline for this is 19 March 2010. Funding from this programme is expected to be provided in 2011.

Follow-up discussions are already scheduled. ECPC will continue to contribute to the formation of the Partnership and will keep its membership updated on progress and the way forward.

If you are interested in more detail about the content of the planned work, we are attaching a more detailed Member Update (PDF) - for members only. Or please get in touch with us!

Best regards,
Tom Hudson
Tom van der Wal
Simona Ene
Denis Horgan
Jan Geißler

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European Cancer Patient Coalition
ECPC Brussels Office
26 Rue de la Loi
1040 Brussels,
Belgium
Tel: +32 2888 89 43
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