Today marks World Cancer Day, a day to put the challenges faced by the cancer community under the spotlight and push for action.
Closing the cancer care gap in Europe has always been a priority for the EPP Group, being aware that cancer patients in Eastern Europe are currently 30% less likely to recover compared to those living in Western Europe. The place where Europeans live cannot determine the chances of recovery that he or she may have, and neither should it condition the accessing of the best care and treatment available.
We have made this clear in our ‘10-next steps to beat cancer’ and we have presented concrete actions in the European Parliament’s Beating Cancer roadmap, the so-called BECA report, to change things.
There are many areas where the EU can be of added value to end the inequalities in cancer care across Europe. Using the European Cohesion Funds to invest in hospitals and employing more doctors and nurses or helping patients to seek treatment in another EU country are only a couple of them.