Time to Accelerate: Action on Men and Cancer

Each year, thousands of men in Europe are diagnosed with cancer. There is an urgent need for action on all gender-related cancer inequalities, yet the issue of men’s cancers is not being addressed effectively by policymakers.

ECO, The European Association of Urology (EAU) and Global Action on Men’s Health (GAMH) have launched a joint Roadmap for Improvement on this issue titled ‘Time to Accelerate: Action on Men and Cancer’.

Taking place in the European Parliament, in Brussels, the launch was kindly sponsored by Members of the European Parliament Alessandra Moretti and István Ujhelyi.

Other speakers at the event included: Domenico Fiorenza, from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety; Peter Baker and Hendrik Van Poppel, Co-Chairs of ECO’s Men and Cancer Workstream; and Sarah Collen, ECO Inequalities Network Co-Chair.

The Roadmap details several recommendations for national and European policy, such as:

• Ensuring gender-neutral HPV vaccination in all countries.
• A multi-pronged approach for improving early detection, including gender-targeted health information and more flexible access hours for GP and health services.
• Targeted approaches to improve male participation in accessing psychosocial support.
• Support for national level implementation of EU Council Recommendations on Cancer Screening, including for prostate cancer.
• A European Commission Initiative on Prostate Cancer covering the entire pathway.
• Improved understanding and response to the needs of groups of men at heightened risk of getting cancer and experiencing poorer outcomes.
• Routine and comprehensive cancer data collection and analysis covering sex and gender.
• Accelerated research into men and cancer (both clinical and social).
• National cancer plans that tackle gender-specific needs, including for men.
• Information and training for policymakers and practitioners on improving cancer policy and services for men.

ECO will promote the roadmap through 2024 as part of the wider ‘Time to Accelerate’ European Cancer Manifesto.

You can read the full roadmap here.