A Dedicated Mobile Application

The Czech Republic is advancing its digital healthcare landscape with a dedicated mobile application designed to put preventive care directly into the hands of its citizens.

New Version

The application has been transformed from the previous version, which was created during the Covid 19 pandemic, when it was used to store, display and verify the validity of European COVID-19 certificates. Since then, the app has gradually developed in synergy with the development of healthcare electronization, especially the development of central services and the development of standardization. By centralizing medical data, the platform aims to increase screening participation and simplify health management for individuals.

Key Features

The latest update provides users with a record of their medical history. Key features include:

• Screening and prevention tracking: Users can view a clear history of their completed oncological screenings and regular preventive check-ups with GPs, dentists, or gynecologists.
• Family health management: The app allows parents to monitor the preventive care schedules for their children under the age of 18.

Notification feature is planned to be introduced in future updates – users will receive automated alerts when they become eligible for a screening.

The data is sourced from the National Registry of Reimbursed Health Services and is updated semi-annually to ensure accuracy.

Combining Technologies

By combining mobile technology with robust backend data sharing, the Czech healthcare system is making it easier than ever for citizens to stay on top of their preventive care.

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Gender Minorities

Only 10 out of 25 European countries address gender minorities in the eligible population in their breast cancer screening programme. This was revealed in a recent survey conducted by EUCanScreen task 6.6. Changes to policies to expand eligibility criteria are clearly needed.

Cancer Risks

The right to screening should be based on cancer risk, not on legally recognised gender or any other societal factor. To achieve equity, we must also break down other barriers related to cancer screening. For example, there are deficiencies in invitational practices, and lack of knowledge among health care providers.

Overcoming Barriers

These barriers and ways to overcome them will be studied in the next phase of the task – led by Finnish Cancer Registry – in semi-structured interviews in Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, and Latvia.

@EUCanScreen  #CancerScreening #PublicHealth #CancerPrevention #EarlyDetection 

Strong public response to screening

Participant recruitment for Finland’s lung cancer screening pilot began earlier this year — and the response has been very encouraging

The pilot reached its target of 1 200 long-term smokers from all the five regions in record time, highlighting a clear need for lung cancer screening in Finland.

Combining screening with prevention

Research shows that combining smoking cessation interventions with lung cancer screening is a key element for success. In the pilot, 600 participants will undergo low-dose CT scans at the beginning and end of the study, and all participants are offered help to quit smoking.

The strong interest suggests that people are concerned about their health and willing to take part in screening, while also highlighting a clear need for smoking cessation support. 

Aiming for long-term impact

The aim of the pilot is to determine the efficiency of different smoking cessation methods to smoking cessation, and to generate evidence on the feasibility of implementing lung cancer screening within the Finnish healthcare system and to improve the early detection of the disease. 

The pilot is conducted as part of Work Package 8 (Facilitation of the New Screening Approach Implementation) in the #EUCanScreen project. Finnish Cancer Registry is leading the pilot in close collaboration with our Hungarian partner NKIP OKPI – National Korányi Institute for Pulmonology

Mathematical Modelling

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has applied mathematical modelling to support decision-making in the HPV field for many years. More than 15 years ago, when evaluating the introduction of the HPV vaccination programme for girls, the analysis already considered both screening and vaccination as complementary strategies for cervical cancer prevention.

HPV Vaccination

To fully realise the benefits of HPV vaccination, screening programmes must be adapted to reflect the substantially lower cervical cancer risk in vaccinated cohorts. Without such adaptation, the balance of harms and benefits in screening may shift undesirably, for example by increasing the relative burden of follow-up examinations or unnecessary treatments.

Lowering Cervical Cancer Risk

Adapting screening requires consideration not only of vaccinated women but also of unvaccinated women. HPV vaccination reduces viral circulation at the population level, thereby lowering cervical cancer risk in both groups. In the EUCanScreen project, we apply modelling to identify screening protocols that are appropriate for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals within vaccinated cohorts, under varying levels of vaccination coverage and the resulting levels of indirect protection among unvaccinated women.

#EUCanScreen #HPV #HPVVaccination #CervicalCancer #CancerScreening

Addressing Barriers

As part of the EUCanScreen Joint Action, Finland participates in a case study that aims to identify individual barriers and facilitators for attendance to the breast cancer screening programme.

The Finnish Cancer Registry

The novelty and the value of our study stems from combining large population-based Healthy Finland 2022–2023 survey data with reliable information from the Finnish Cancer Registry among women aged 50–69 years.

Breast Cancer Screening

 According to our preliminary results, it appeared that women with unhealthy lifestyle habits, poorer self-perceived health or social wellbeing, or mental health diagnoses were less likely to attend the latest breast cancer screening.

Different Population Groups

Improving screening uptake, ensuring the long-term success of screening programmes, and achieving better health equity for all, require clear understanding of individual barriers and facilitators that may influence participation across different population groups. By identifying groups with the lowest participation and the factors contributing to non-attendance, interventions can be more precisely tailored and targeted to improve uptake – and ultimately, to decrease cancer mortality.

Read more: https://cancerregistry.fi/screening/breast-cancer-screening/

#EUCanScreen #PopulationSurvey #RegistryData #Registry #CancerResearch #CancerScreening #BreastCancerScreening #HealthEquity

Addressing Barriers

With modern computation enabling more risk-based and personalised screening pathways, the need for data keeps increasing. Yet, cancer screening data in Europe is fragmented, in silos and has different vocabularies and standards. A researcher hoping to improve cancer screening programme is currently slowed down by legislative process, difficulties to access vast amounts of data, and varying coding systems and structures for data.

WP5

Within the #EUCanScreen Joint Action, Work Package 5 – led by the Finnish Cancer Registry – aims to tackle this challenge by harmonising individual-level cancer screening data across Europe.

Our Goal

“Our goal is to make research and monitoring as straightforward as possible, and to strengthen cancer screening as an attractive field for research,” says WP5 co-lead Aapeli Nevala.

Collaboration

Together with IACS  bringing strong technical expertise and CPO Piemonte, which has extensive experience in the use of screening data, as well as many other partners, the collaboration brings together complementary expertise to work towards this ambitious goal.

EHDS

The work is closely aligned with the upcoming European Health Data Space (EHDS) legislation and aims to support screening organisations in the transition to the EHDS era.

Agenda

Work Package 4 (WP4) Kick-off Meeting

From 9 to 11 March 2026, partners of the EUCanScreen project gathered in Bled, Slovenia (among the supportive countries), for the Work Package 4 (WP4) Kick-off Meeting, focusing on sustainability in cancer screening programmes across Europe.

Hosted at Hotel Park in Bled, the meeting brought together project partners, experts, and representatives from both target and supporting countries to exchange knowledge, identify key challenges, and define priorities for strengthening cancer screening systems in Europe.

Strengthening the Sustainability of Cancer Screening Programmes

The three-day meeting marked the official launch of WP4 activities (led by Slovenia), which aim to support the sustainable implementation, operation, and development of organised, population-based cancer screening programmes across participating countries.

Through a series of mini-talks, poster sessions, and interactive workshops, participants discussed important topics including:

• governance models for cancer screening programmes

• quality and effectiveness of screening across Europe

• cost-effectiveness and long-term sustainability

• barriers affecting the implementation and operation of screening programmes

• opportunities for EU-level collaboration and support

Experts also explored how research, modelling, and data can help inform decision-making and support the development of resilient and sustainable screening systems.

Sharing Experiences Across Europe

A key component of the meeting was the poster sessions, where representatives from target countries — Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine — presented the current state of cancer screening governance and sustainability in their national contexts.

Supporting countries, including Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Slovenia, also shared their experiences and best practices, highlighting successful approaches that could help strengthen screening programmes across Europe.

These discussions helped identify common challenges, priority areas for support, and opportunities for collaboration within the framework of the EUCanScreen project.

Defining Priorities and Next Steps

The meeting also included a prioritisation workshop, where participants worked in breakout groups to identify key actions needed to improve the sustainability of cancer screening programmes. The outcomes of these discussions will help guide the Targeted Support Mechanism (TSM) and the next phases of WP4 activities.

The final sessions focused on aligning expectations between target and supporting countries and planning the next steps for collaboration and implementation within the project.

Moving forward together

The WP4 Kick-off Meeting represented an important milestone for the EUCanScreen project, strengthening collaboration among partners and laying the groundwork for future work aimed at improving cancer screening programmes across Europe.

By fostering dialogue, knowledge exchange, and joint planning, EUCanScreen continues to support more effective, sustainable, and equitable cancer screening systems, ultimately contributing to improved cancer prevention and early detection throughout Europe.

Finland Cancer Screening Programmes

Finland is not only the happiest country in the world. Finns are also among the most screening‑friendly people! Participation rates in national cancer screening programmes are exceptionally high and reflect strong public trust and commitment to preventive health.

The Finnish Cancer Registry

The Finnish Cancer Registry has been a forerunner in conducting major screening studies. Before any new screening programme is implemented or changes are made to existing programmes, they are evaluated in pilot and modelling studies.

Decades of screening expertise:

• Cervical cancer screening began in 1963
• Breast cancer screening data collected since 1987
• Colorectal cancer screening data collected since the nationwide rollout in 2022

Screenings Evaluations

The Registry guides the implementation of all three programmes and evaluates screenings nationwide. The #EUCanScreen Joint Action is an excellent opportunity for the Finnish Cancer Registry to share best practices and learn from other EU countries in order to further improve cancer screening programmes.

Annual Reports

Interested in a clear overview of screening participation, results, and changes in cancer incidence? The Annual Reports of the Cancer Screening Programmes provide a concise summary of screening activities.

Read more: https://cancerregistry.fi/reports-and-publications/annual-reports-of-cancer-screening-programmes/

#EUCanScreen #RegistryData #Registry #CancerScreening

Screening Campaign Country – March 2026

Finland is honoured to serve as the Spotlight Country for March 2026 in the EUCanScreen Joint Action.

Finland participates in several EUCanScreen work packages providing versatile expertise and valuable data from reliable and extensive Finnish Cancer Registry and comprehensive population-based surveys.

Data Collection

Finland has long experience in collecting cancer register data as well as national population survey data. The Finnish Cancer Registry has maintained the national registry of all the diagnosed cancer cases since 1953, and of the mass screenings since 1968.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare  has collected health examination survey data since 1966, and also maintains several health registers. These extensive data pools have enabled world class research and international collaboration contributing to research of cancer prevention and treatment while also providing information to decision-makers.

Participation Rates

In Finland, participation rates in the cancer screening programmes are high. In the EUCanScreen, Finnish contribution can support countries with lower participation in improving attendance as well as quality and monitoring of the cancer screening programmes.

#EUCanScreen #PopulationSurvey #RegistryData #Registry #CancerResearch #CancerScreening

The Mammography Screening Program

The mammography screening programme was the first organized screening program to be implemented nationwide in Germany in
2009. Currently, all women between the ages of 50 and 75 receive a free mammogram every two years . The costs of mammograms
for breast cancer are covered by statutory health insurers.

Read more about German mammography screening programme here!

Organization and Evaluation

The Kooperationsgemeinschaft Mammographie is responsible for the organization and evaluation of the German mammography screening programme:

Read more!

Study Results

Study results show a significant reduction of breast cancer mortality among screening participants.

Read more!

The Cervical Cancer Screening

In Germany, women aged 20 and over can regularly have screening tests for cervical cancer (paid for by their statutory health insurer).

Available Tests

These tests are available:

• Women between the ages of 20 and 34 can have a free Pap test once a year.
• Women aged 35 and over are eligible for a combination of the Pap test and the HPV test every three years.

You can find more detailed information about the German cervical cancer screening programme here.

The Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme

In Germany, colorectal cancer screening is offered for people between the ages of 50 and 75. The costs are covered by statutory health insurers.

Screening Methods

Currently, there are two screening methods for colorectal cancer:

colonoscopy and the stool test for occult blood.

• Colonoscopy: Women and men aged 50 and over can have two colonoscopies , ten years
• Stool test: As an alternative to colonoscopy, women and men aged 50 and over can have a stool test every two years.

Anyone who decides against a second colonoscopy ten years after their first can have stool tests instead.
Furthermore, abnormal stool test results always entitle the individual to a colonoscopy for further investigation.

You can find more detailed information about the German colorectal cancer screening programme here.