Cancer patients to vote for putting people first

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The European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) is calling on European citizens and cancer patients to make their voice heard in Europe by voting in the European Parliament elections. We use our democratic right to vote to make sure that politicians put people first.

With the new European Commission Cancer Partnership set to give patient organisations an increased role in policy decisions, it is crucial that cancer patients demonstrate their engagement in European politics.

EP candidates can fight the cancer burden

Meanwhile, ECPC is asking all candidates for the European Parliament elections to work towards implementing the European Parliament Resolution to help us fight cancer in their Member State and across the European Union and endorse the ECPC Cancer Manifesto.

One third of EU citizens are diagnosed with cancer, a disease which kills about 1,1 million each year. There are considerable inequalities in health status and cancer survival rates within and between Member States of the European Union, which will only increase under the current economic crisis as our health and social systems come under financial pressure.

"Health is wealth"

In the current financial crisis it is important that investment in health and social security systems continues. The European Commissioner for Health, Androulla Vassilliou, warned at the January 2009 meeting of MEPs against Cancer (MAC) that making cutbacks in healthcare in times of economic hardship was a false economy. Lowering spending on screening programmes would lead to fewer cases being detected early, when they were most amenable to treatment, causing greater suffering for patients and inevitably more deaths.

The European Parliament is working for a healthier Europe

"Investment in health pays future dividends - and most importantly we can save many lives. This is why ECPC and its members are sending candidate MEPs our Cancer Manifesto," said Lynn Faulds Wood, President of ECPC. "In the present Parliament, MEPs have joined forces in MAC - MEPs against Cancer - to support us in our fight against the disease. The ECPC Cancer Manifesto calls for the development and implementation of national cancer plans, promoting cancer awareness in the general public and stepping up research investment for all those cancers that currently have few or no treatment options. We very much hope that cancer patients can look forward to a strong political support in the new parliamentary term with even more MEPs joining MAC."

Hildrun Sundseth of ECPC said "election time is when politics is brought back closest to the people. It is an opportunity for cancer patients to make their voices heard to politicians. There are many improvements that can be made at the European level in cancer treatment and care, particularly in helping remove inequalities between Member States, therefore it is so important that citizens become engaged in these European elections."

For further information please contact:

Lynn Faulds Wood (ECPC President)
Tel.: +44 (208) 8915937
Mobile: +44 (7831) 310000
EMail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hildrun Sundseth (ECPC Head of EU Policy)
Tel.: +32 (2) 772 6165
Mobile: +32 (473) 983164
EMail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Notes to the Editor

The ECPC Cancer Manifesto can be found here:
http://www.ecpc-online.org/about-ecpc/ecpc-cancer-manifesto.html

About ECPC - The European Cancer Patient Coalition

The European Cancer Patient Coalition was founded in 2003 under the slogan "Nothing About Us, Without Us". It is committed to improving cancer prevention, screening, early diagnosis and best treatment, reducing disparity and inequality across the EU. ECPC seeks to ensure that policy makers, politicians, health professionals, the media and the general public recognise the serious nature of cancer and the need for concerted action to reduce unnecessary death and suffering. Further information can be found at http://www.ecpc-online.org

Cancer in Europe: Key facts and figures

There are more than 2,2 million new cases and more than 1,1 cancer deaths in the EU 25 each year
Every day, over 6000 Europeans are diagnosed with cancer and more than 3000 die from their disease
In women breast cancer is the most common form of cancer, amounting to nearly 31% of all incidence cases
In men prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer, amounting to 24% of all incidence cases
Colon or colorectal cancer is the second cancer in women and third in men,
Breast, prostate, colon and lung cancers count for more than half of the entire cancer population of the European Union in both sexes
Most of the other cancers are fortunately seen in smaller numbers and affecting not more than 5/10,000 people in the EU
The number of Europeans with cancer will increase dramatically by 2015 due to the ageing population

Figures based on estimates of the cancer incidence and mortality in Europe in 2006 published in the Annals of Oncology by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. http://www.iarc.fr/

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