OriOn Joint Action

The European Commission presented Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP), which is the umbrella document in the field of cancer control in the European Union (EU) in February 2021. With the EBCP, the European Commission aims to reduce the burden of cancer, which represents a major public health problem in most European countries.

The aim of EBCP is to tackle the entire disease pathway. It is structured around four key action areas where the EU can add the most value: prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life of cancer patients and survivors. Over the coming years, it will focus on research and innovation, tap into the potential that digitalisation and new technologies offer, and mobilise financial instruments to support Member States. The Cancer Registry of Norway will contribute its cancer knowledge in several areas to this project.

Apart from the listed key thematic areas, EBCP also consists of cross-cutting themes, including research and innovation, digital and personalised medicine, reducing inequalities and paediatric cancer, 10 Flagship initiatives and 32 actions at every key stage of the disease. The Flagship initiative No9 of the EBCP envisages support for solving the problem of inequalities in the field of cancer by identifying trends, disparities and inequalities between EU Member States and regions.

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The OriON Joint Action (JA) is based on the Flagship initiative No9 and addresses cancer inequalities. Namely, a number of indicators show major differences in cancer prevention and care between and within Member States. These inequalities can be seen in access to prevention programmes, in rates of early cancer detection, diagnosis, treatment, survival and measures to improve quality of life of cancer patients and survivors. Mortality rates from colorectal cancer are substantially higher among men than among women. Differences in survivorship and access to care can be explained by gender differences, a combination of lower exposure to risk factors, better access to screening programmes and health services, and better capacity to absorb the social and financial consequences of cancer. Furthermore, persistent discrepancies can also be observed for women, older people, persons with disabilities, and disadvantaged and marginalised groups, like people with a minority racial or ethnic background and people living in poverty. In the EBCP it is clearly stated that these inequalities are unacceptable in a European Health Union that seeks to protect everyone. There should be no first- and second-class cancer patients in the EU. The EBCP aims to address these inequalities across the entire disease pathway.

The OriON JA (full name Joint Action on Contribution to the Cancer Inequalities Registry to Monitor National Cancer Control Policies) project started on 1st January 2024 and will last for two years. On 18th January, 2024, a project kick-off meeting was held in Brussels. Twenty-three partners from EU Member States and designated countries participate in the OriON JA project (Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Slovenia). The expected impact of the OriON JA will be a reduction in measurable disparities in cancer prevention and care across the EU. The specific goals of the project are to support the monitoring and analysis of the implementation of EBCP in certain Member States cancer policy documents, and to carry out an analysis of the state-of-play of National Cancer Control Programmes (NCCPs) with a special focus on cancer inequalities. The project work is organized into five work packages (WP), three of them are mandatory, horizontal (WP 1 - Coordination, WP 2 - Dissemination, WP 3 - Evaluation), two WPs are substantive (WP 4 - Sustainability and implementation - Support to the monitoring and analysis of the implementation of the EBCP in Member States, and WP 5 - Analysis of the developments in National Cancer Control Programmes). The JA is coordinated by the National Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia.

OriON JA will certainly contribute to the innovations and benefits for citizens of all European countries and for patients. It will provide recommendations to support monitoring of the EBCP. The best format to collect the information and make it more readily available to stakeholders will be explored. Together with the Cancer Inequalities Register, it will contribute to reducing measurable differences in cancer prevention and health care in the EU. Based on the analysis of the contents of National Cancer Control Programmes, with an emphasis on inequalities in the field of cancer, as part of the WP5, and in accordance with the Flagship initiative No9 of the EBCP, policy recommendations for reducing inequalities in the field of cancer in the EU will be prepared.

The OriON Joint Action received funding from the European Union program through the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA).

Literature:

European Commission, 2021. Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.pdf

European Commission, 2023. OriON - Joint Action on Contribution to the Cancer Inequalities Registry to Monitor National Cancer Control Policies.
 

Prepared by Marjetka Jelenc, OriON JA Coordination Team.