As of today, there have been 1.4 million deaths across Europe due to coronavirus. Cancer causes 1.3 million deaths annually in Europe, of whom 6,000 are children.
In addition, 2.7 million lives are turned upside down every year after the most dreaded diagnosis; 35,000 of these lives are those of children and adolescents.
COVID-19 and cancer share this dreadful portrait. Likewise, both diseases can affect anyone, regardless of their social status or where they live. Coronavirus and cancer are not first- and second-class diseases in Europe; they go hand in hand.
In September 2020, the European Parliament set up a special committee to explore what Europe can do to beat cancer. The work done over the past 21 months has identified how, by pooling efforts at a European level, this target is achievable. As EU lawmakers, we have drafted what should be the way to go.
The coronavirus pandemic has already shown the advantages of working together on health matters, as well as the difficulties, bottlenecks and obstacles. In the fight against COVID, we had to start from scratch. But EU health systems already have much more knowledge and experience in fighting cancer. Imagine what we could do if we pooled all this knowledge and expertise. The lessons learned from COVID show what Europe can do to beat cancer.
Cancer treatments and medicines are very expensive, especially for rare types of cancer. As was done for COVID vaccines, the European Commission should promote a European joint procurement system that makes treatment more affordable for both patients and healthcare systems.
Europe will be promoting more equitable access to medicine and it needs to incentivise breakthrough innovations, as was done with the COVID vaccines.
The EU can also make a difference for prevention, early detection and treatment, supporting research with structural funding from the €95.5 billion available from Horizon Europe.
It can also dismantle the barriers to data that are currently slowing down research and treatment solutions for rare cancers, many of which affect children. A ‘Big EU data bill’ could help save children’s lives by incentivising researchers and pharmaceutical companies to invest in child-specific drugs.
Leaders must agree that Europe can beat cancer together rather than fighting it alone
To ensure tailor-made treatment is available to all patients, every member state should have at least one specialised centre for children and young adolescents suffering from cancer.
The experience with COVID has shown that treatment cooperation across borders can save lives.
It must become easier for cancer patients to seek treatment in another EU country and for healthcare systems to transfer patients to a hospital with the best treatments. There needs to be a single set of authorisation and reimbursement rules across EU member states.
Europe should also provide a platform for the exchange of best practices in palliative care and it must support research in palliative care.
All patients deserve the right to be forgotten. No one in the EU should face discrimination based solely on their past as a cancer patient. The lives of cancer patients and support for their carers need our best collective effort.
These are only some of the examples of how Europe can make a difference.
The European Parliament has worked on ways to help cancer patients no matter where they live. Currently, there are first- and second-class citizens because in eastern Europe patients have a 30 per cent lower chance of recovering compared to patients in western Europe. As EU lawmakers, we want to make sure the fight against cancer doesn’t take social status or borders into account.
Europe can pool efforts, knowledge and money. Such resources and brainpower require the political will of 27 heads of state and government. As the parliament did, the leaders must agree that Europe can beat cancer together rather than fighting it alone.
The parliament would like to think that its 27 health ministers will not bury their heads in the sand but face the task with a political willpower that matches the resolve displayed by cancer patients across Europe every day.
Cindy Franssen is the EPP Group spokesperson for the Special European Parliament Committee on Beating Cancer. David Casa is a Nationalist MEP and member of the EPP Group.