*Updated* First meeting of the Partnership for Action against Cancer

Following its Communication from last June, the European Commission launches the Partnership for Action against Cancer. The launch of the event took place on 29 September 2009 and gathered the President of the Commission, Commissioner Vassiliou and more than 300 organisations working in this field. On 7-8 December 2009 the first meeting was held for the members of the Partnership.


The focus of the Partnership will be the activities at a European level that can bring added value to Member States’ efforts in cancer prevention and control. The partners in the Partnership are expected to make a link with local, regional and national levels.

The objectives laid down in the Communication on the European Partnership for Action Against Cancer are to be achieved by 2020. However, the Partnership is initially planned for a period of 3 years, which will hopefully lead on to the next phases of the Partnership.

The work of the various activities under the banner of the Partnership will be presented and actions discussed in the yearly Open forum. The main body of activities will be structured under a joint action that will be led by Slovenia in 2010.

EPHA is a member of the Partnership as are a large number of EPHA’s member organisations. The finalisation of the projects and proposals for the joint action is currently underway.

“Three million people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the EU. It is the second biggest cause of death in both men and women”. (DG SANCO)

Since 1985, cancer has been a priority issue for EU public health policy, reflected in successive “Europe against Cancer action” programmes. In December 2003, the Council adopted a Recommendation on cancer screening whose implementation has been materialised by a Commission’s Report on 22nd December. On June 2009, the Commission adopted a Communication on “Action against Cancer: European Partnership” which sets out the rational for, and the objectives of, a partnership against cancer.

Based on four pillars: cancer information, early detection and health promotion, cancer research and learning from best practice, the partnership aims to draw together relevant organisations to share expertise and identify challenges in order to reduce the number of new cancer cases in the EU by 15% by 2020.

It engages a wide range of stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, researchers, patients groups, industry and national authorities across the EU in a collective effort and with a common commitment to addressing cancer.

As cancer is one of our priorities, EPHA has applied to become a member of this Platform in order to bring the public health perspective. Some of our members such as the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO) and the European Cancer League (ECL) will also join the partnership.

After the launch event of September, preparatory meetings are planned late in the autumn.

For more information:

Please visit DG SANCO webpage on cancer

Please visit the Communication on Action against Cancer: European partnership

EPHA related articles:

- *Updated* European Union Action Against Cancer
- article 3029
- article 2897

Last modified on March 26 2010.