ECO Chief Executive at the Health and Security Series in Poland

 

With Poland now assuming the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, it played host this month to public health leaders from across the continent at the ‘Health and Safety for the Future‘ conference on Friday 21 February.

Among the keynote speakers in Warsaw were: Former Polish President Lech Wałęsa; Beata Małecka-Libera, Chair of the Polish Senate Health Committee; and Sandra Gallina, Director General of DG SANTE at the European Commission.

ECO Chief Executive Elisabetta Zanon joined the session for Plans for Europe’s Health – should Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan serve as inspiration for developing similar strategies in other areas of medicine?

In her remarks, Elisabetta emphasised that Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan can provide a template of success for other disease areas.

• On cancer prevention: World-leading cancer prevention legislation has been secured, including ambitious new limits on air pollution and new legal protections for citizens and workers against many other carcinogens.
• On HPV cancer elimination: Europe is now a global front-runner in achieving the WHO’s cervical cancer elimination goal because of the Beating Cancer Plan’s HPV cancer elimination goal. Whereas at the point of publication of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, only a minority of countries conducted Gender Neutral Vaccination, now all EU countries are politically committed to this policy.
• On cancer screening: New forms of cancer screening are being piloted across Europe as part of EU-supported cross-border coordination. This includes pioneering efforts for lung, prostate and gastric cancer screening. A growing set of EU guidelines have now been developed to underpin the quality of screening that all EU citizens should expect to be adhered to in their country. Initiatives such as Cancer Image Europe are helping to secure cutting edge research in the region on early detection and diagnosis.
• On quality of cancer care: A new EU Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres is building capacity, connecting centres across the EU & beyond and helping bring the best quality of care to patients. Where once the comprehensive cancer care model appeared a distant prospect in many countries, hope is being made reality as a result of the EU’s cancer plan. More than 100 cancer centres in 25 countries are also participating in the ground-breaking EU inter-speciality cancer training programme. This comes online at the same time as multiple new EU supported digital training programmes for oncology professionals.
• For cancer survivors: Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is providing a framework to help advance the concept and reality of a ‘right to be forgotten’ for cancer survivors. This refers to legal protections that prevent financial institutions, insurers, and other entities from discriminating against individuals based on their past cancer diagnosis after a certain period of remission. Only 2 countries in the EU provided such protections in 2019. Now 9 countries offer legal protections and 6 countries non-regulatory protection, with a growing understanding of the benefit of a more common European approach through mechanisms like the Mortgage Credit Directive. 

Following the event, the Institute for Social Policy Development released a white paper with healthcare policy recommendations, to which ECO contributed. In its foreword, former President Lech Wałęsa explains what security means for the Polish Presidency of the EU Council:

The Polish Presidency, following the course of history, will support efforts to strengthen European security in al its dimensions: external, internal, economic, informational, energy, food, and health.

You can download the full white paper here, and watch the Conference recording here.

Following her participation, Elisabetta said:

‘Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan has become a rallying cry for people across Europe. And for good reason. It reflects a ‘can do’ spirit and shows what is possible when we collaborate and mobilise to fight an unrelenting disease. We have much more to do, but I hope we have inspired EU member states to accelerate their efforts – not only against cancer but against the many public health threats we all face.’

To learn about ECO’s policy priorities and ongoing initiatives, please visit our website.