Stay updated on EUCanScreen’s latest progress, collaborations, and upcoming events. Discover key project developments, innovative cancer screening approaches, and community engagement initiatives driving change across Europe. #CancerScreening #EUProjects

In March, partners of the EUCanScreen project gathered in Bled for the kick-off meeting of the work package on the sustainability of cancer screening programmes in Europe, led by Slovenia (Institute of Oncology Ljubljana). The kick-off meeting brought together around 90 cancer screening experts from across Europe.

Over three days, participants exchanged knowledge, shared best practices, and discussed determinants related to successful implementation, operation and development of sustainable, and impactful organised population‑based cancer screening in Europe. Through presentations, poster sessions, and interactive workshops, discussions focused on:

• sustainability of impactful screening programmes across Europe,
• governance and leadership,
• overcoming barriers in implementation,
• quality and cost-effectiveness, modelling and prioritisation in cancer screening,
• peer support and networking.

Exchange of Experiences Across Europe

Poster sessions showcased experiences from target countries (Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine) and supporting countries (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Slovenia)— outlining national screening systems, key challenges and good practices that can inspire improvements in cancer screening in target countries as well across Europe.

These exchanges helped identify common priorities, areas where support is most needed, and opportunities for collaboration within the EUCanScreen project.

Authors

Urška Ivanuš, Elizabeta R. Pepevnik, Mateja Doležalek

We explored this question at an interactive workshop on leadership in screening, organised within Work Package 11.1 of the EUCanScreen project, designed and led by Institute of Oncology Ljubljana.

In March 2026 we invited experienced leaders of cancer screening programmes from 12 European countries to Bled. The workshop brought together findings from a prior literature review with the practical experience of experts who lead and develop screening programmes on a daily basis.

The workshop used the innovative LEGO® Serious Play® methodology, which enables exploration of aspects of leadership that are more difficult to uncover with traditional approaches. In addition to competencies, we also examined their connections with barriers and enabling factors in the implementation of innovations in screening programmes.

The workshop was designed and facilitated by Primož Mekuč from the ZORA programme, and co-facilitated by Katarzyna Czabanowska from Maastricht University, who leads the WHO Collaborating Centre on Public Health Leadership and Workforce Development. The research team also includes: Urška Ivanuš (Institute of Oncology Ljubljana), Andre Carvalho (IARC/WHO), Rok Hržič (Maastricht University), Kayo Togawa (IARC/WHO), Sirpa Heinävaara and Tytti Sarkeala (Cancer Society of Finland).

Within the EUCanScreen project, leadership—one of the less visible determinants of successful and sustainable screening programmes—has been addressed for the first time. Over the next two years, the knowledge gained will guide the development of the first competency model for leadership in cancer screening programmes, which will serve as a foundation for designing and delivering leadership trainings. By the end of 2028, more than 100 current and future leaders will take part in these trainings within the EUCanScreen project, with the aim of improving the implementation and development of sustainable and impactful cancer screening programmes across Europe.

Authors

Primož Mekuč, Urška Ivanuš

National Screening Center of the Slovak Republic – Strengthening Organised Screening Programmes

The establishment of the National Screening Centre (NSC) represents a key milestone in strengthening cancer prevention and early detection in the Slovak Republic. Officially launched on 15 January 2026 as an organisational unit of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, the NSC is mandated to strengthen coordination, governance, quality assurance, and the long-term sustainability of organised cancer screening programmes, in alignment with European recommendations and the principles of evidence-based public health policy.

The NSC serves as a central coordinating body bringing together multidisciplinary expertise in public health, oncology, epidemiology, data analytics, and healthcare management. Its primary objective is to improve access to high-quality screening services and to increase participation rates within target populations.

The core areas of activity of the NSC include:

• methodological and organisational oversight of screening programmes;
• quality assurance and performance monitoring;
• development and integration of data infrastructure for screening;
• support for communication strategies and health literacy initiatives;
• reduction of inequalities in access to preventive services;
• facilitation of the implementation of new organised screening programmes.

The establishment of the NSC builds upon the findings and recommendations of the ICCCS project, implemented in cooperation with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) during the period 2022–2024. Key challenges identified in Slovakia include low population participation in screening programmes, fragmented data systems, regional disparities in access to healthcare services, and insufficiently developed communication and education strategies.

Participation in the EUCanScreen project represents an important opportunity for the Slovak Republic to benefit from international expertise and best practices. The NSC aims to actively contribute to knowledge exchange, strengthen capacity, and support the implementation of effective, evidence-based interventions in the field of organised screening and cancer prevention.

Authors

Zuzana Bárdyová, Patrícia Klamárová, National screening center, Ministry of Health of Slovak Republic 

European Week Against Cancer 2026: Together Against Inequalities

Every year, from 25 to 31 May, organisations, clinicians, patients, and policymakers across the continent turn their attention to the same goal: reducing the toll that cancer takes on European lives. This is the European Week Against Cancer (EWAC), a flagship campaign led by the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL), an umbrella body representing dozens of national and regional cancer leagues. The week always opens on 25 May and closes on 31 May, which is also World No Tobacco Day — a fitting bookend, given that tobacco remains the single largest preventable cause of cancer.

The theme for 2026 is “Together against cancer inequalities,” and it points to an uncomfortable truth. Cancer does not affect everyone equally. Where you live, how much you earn, your level of education, and your access to a doctor can shape whether a tumour is caught early or caught too late. The campaign’s central argument is that closing these gaps is not a luxury — it is one of the most effective ways to save lives.

The Scale of the Problem

Cancer is among the leading causes of death in Europe. In 2022 alone, the disease was responsible for an estimated 1.3 million deaths across the region. Behind that number are families, careers, and communities reshaped by diagnosis and loss. Yet the most striking fact about cancer is also the most hopeful: a large share of cases are preventable. Lifestyle factors, environmental exposures, infections, and gaps in screening account for a significant proportion of the cancer burden. That means the choices we make as individuals — and the policies we make as societies — genuinely move the needle.

A Week Built Around the Whole Journey

One of the strengths of EWAC is that it refuses to reduce cancer to a single message. Instead, each day of the week shines a light on a different stage of what experts call the “cancer continuum”:

• Primary prevention — stopping cancer before it starts
• Early detection — catching it when treatment works best
• Access to treatment — making sure care reaches everyone who needs it
• Digital health and care — using technology to extend and improve services
• Research — building the knowledge that drives every other advance
• Patients and survivors — centring the people living with and beyond cancer
• World No Tobacco Day — confronting the biggest preventable risk factor of all

This structure makes a quiet but important point. Beating cancer is not one battle but many, fought at the same time by researchers, nurses, advocates, and ordinary people changing their daily habits.

Prevention is in Your Hands — Partly

At the heart of the campaign sits the European Code Against Cancer, a set of evidence-based recommendations describing practical steps individuals can take to lower their risk. The advice is refreshingly straightforward and, taken together, can meaningfully reduce a person’s chances of developing the disease:

• Don’t smoke and avoid second-hand smoke.
• Keep a healthy body weight and stay physically active.
• Eat a healthy diet, with plenty of wholegrains, vegetables, fruit, and legumes, and limit processed foods, red meat, salt, and sugary drinks.
• Limit alcohol — and for cancer prevention, less is always better.
• Protect your skin from too much sun.
• Reduce exposure to harmful substances at work and at home, including radon in living spaces.
• Take part in vaccination programmes such as hepatitis B and HPV vaccination.
• Attend organised cancer screening when invited — for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers in particular.

The deliberate inclusion of screening and vaccination alongside lifestyle advice is no accident. Personal choices matter, but so does access to programmes that many people cannot reach on their own. Which brings us back to inequality.

Why “Inequalities” is the Right Focus

It is easy to frame cancer prevention purely as a matter of willpower — eat better, drink less, move more. But the 2026 theme insists on a fuller picture. A person who cannot easily reach a clinic, who has never been invited to a screening programme, or who lives in a region with under-resourced healthcare faces obstacles that no amount of personal determination can fully overcome.

These disparities show up between countries and within them, cutting along lines of income, geography, and education. A cancer that is highly survivable in one community can be a death sentence in another, simply because of when and how it is detected and treated. Tackling this is partly a medical challenge and partly a political one — a question of how health systems are funded, organised, and made accessible to everyone.

How to Get Involved

European Week Against Cancer is designed to be participatory, and there are many ways to take part, whether you are an organisation or an individual:

• Share the message. ECL provides a campaign toolkit with ready-made materials, social media content, and templates that organisations can translate and brand for local audiences.
• Host or join an event. Webinars, community gatherings, and online actions take place across the continent throughout the week.
• Act on the European Code Against Cancer. Book that overdue screening appointment, check whether you and your family are up to date on relevant vaccinations, or make one concrete change to your daily habits.
• Speak up. Use the week to ask local and national decision-makers what they are doing to close the gaps in prevention, screening, and treatment.

A Shared Responsibility

The enduring lesson of European Week Against Cancer is captured in its 2026 framing. Real progress against cancer is rarely the work of a single heroic breakthrough. It is the cumulative result of millions of small actions — a screening attended, a cigarette not smoked, a policy improved, a community reached that was previously left out.

For one week each May, Europe makes that collective effort visible. The harder, more valuable work is carrying it through the other fifty-one.

European Week Against Cancer runs from 25 to 31 May 2026 and is coordinated by the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL)

Authors

Joanna Velissari, Anna Viha, Angelos Koutras, Apostolos Vantarakis,DYPEDE Greece

IARC@60 in Lyon: Science, Prevention, and the Road Ahead

From 19 to 21 May, Lyon, France hosted the International Conference IARC@60: Cancer Research into Action, organised by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The event, attended by leading researchers, healthcare experts and policymakers from around the world, reviewed the latest advances in cancer prevention, research and public health policy. The conference emphasised the role of science in addressing global health challenges and was structured around three thematic days: discovery and innovation for cancer prevention; translating research into Public Health action; and science-policy interface for global change.​

Latvia was represented at the conference by Professor Mārcis Leja, Director of the Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine at the University of Latvia. He presented LU‑coordinated and Latvia‑implemented initiatives GISTAR, TOGAS and EUCanScreen, stressing the importance of early diagnosis, screening and prevention to reduce the cancer burden.

According to IARC projections, the number of new cancer cases worldwide could increase by 60% by 2040, reaching 30.2 million cases and potentially causing 16.3 million deaths per year. This rise will affect low‑ and middle‑income countries the most, where diagnoses are often made late and access to care is limited.

Professor Mārcis Leja: “Early diagnosis enables treatment to begin at earlier disease stages, improving survival rates, reducing treatment side effects and potentially lowering overall treatment costs. Projects such as TOGAS, GISTAR and EUCanScreen will provide the evidence and tools needed for effective screening and prevention policies.”

About the Projects:

TOGAS (Towards Gastric Cancer Screening Implementation in the European Union): A study led by LU, collaborating with more than 20 partners from 14 countries, to develop gastric cancer screening strategies, risk‑assessment tools and cost‑effectiveness analyses, and to produce guidelines that meet ethical standards and cost‑effectiveness requirements for implementation across the EU.

GISTAR (Gastric cancer prevention study by predicting atrophic gastritis): An initiative supported by LU and international experts to investigate screening possibilities for gastrointestinal tumors, their early detection and the effectiveness of such programmes. The research is designed to identify new strategies to reduce gastric cancer mortality in high‑risk areas; its results will inform recommendations and policymaking in the EU.

Authors

Oskars Vizbulis, Sindija Kirsteine

Strengthening Cervical Cancer Screening Through Multidisciplinary Collaboration

On 19 May,Ruslan Baltaga, Director of the Institute of Oncology of the Republic of Moldova, organized a multidisciplinary working meeting focused on discussing and optimizing the patient pathway within the cervical cancer screening program. The meeting brought together representatives of the gynecology specialty, the Coordination Unit, the Head of the Department of Oncology, and the Presidents of the Oncology and Gynecology professional societies.

The discussions addressed key aspects related to the organization of cervical screening, continuity of patient care, referral mechanisms, and standardization of clinical management. As an outcome of the meeting, a decision was made to initiate the integration and harmonization of patient pathway recommendations into the National Clinical Protocols (NCPs) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

As part of the future perspectives within the EUCanScreen framework, a joint scientific meeting of the Oncology and Gynecology Societies is planned, dedicated to cervical cancer screening. The initiative aims to strengthen multidisciplinary collaboration, improve national coordination of screening activities, and support the implementation of unified evidence-based recommendations aligned with European cancer screening strategies.

Authors

Ruslan Baltaga, Marina Vitan, Corina Scerbatiuc

Raising Awareness on Cancer Prevention and Screening Across Moldova

During the recent months, the Institute of Oncology of the Republic of Moldova continued its active involvement in public awareness and cancer prevention initiatives within the framework of EUCanScreen activities.

A national institutional conference focused on colorectal cancer screening, early diagnosis, and multidisciplinary treatment approaches was organized, bringing together oncologists, surgeons, gastroenterologists, family physicians, and public health specialists. The event emphasized the importance of population-based screening programmes and early detection strategies in improving oncological outcomes.

In parallel, several public awareness campaigns dedicated to skin cancer prevention and early diagnosis were conducted during the Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Educational materials and expert recommendations were disseminated through the official website of the Institute of Oncology and national media platforms.

The Institute of Oncology also contributed to national dissemination activities through multiple media appearances and interviews on national television and radio channels, highlighting the increasing incidence of skin cancer in the Republic of Moldova, risk factors associated with excessive sun exposure, and the importance of prevention and early dermatological evaluation.

Recent media participation included:

• Publications on the official Institute of Oncology website regarding colorectal cancer screening and skin cancer awareness campaigns;
• Interviews and public discussions broadcasted by national media outlets including Jurnal TV, Radio Moldova, and TV8.

These initiatives contributed to increasing public awareness regarding cancer prevention, screening participation, and timely access to oncological care in the Republic of Moldova.

Institute of Oncology Moldova – Colorectal Cancer Screening Initiative (available in Romanian/Moldavian)

Institute of Oncology Moldova – Skin Cancer Awareness Month (available in Moldavian)

Jurnal TV Interview on Skin Cancer Awareness (available in Moldavian)

Radio Moldova Coverage on Skin Cancer Cases (available in Moldavian)

TV8 Report on Increasing Skin Cancer Incidence (available in Moldavian)

Authors

Ruslan Baltaga, Marina Vitan, Corina Scerbatiuc

Ulrik Deding from Work Package 6: Addressing Barriers and Facilitators in Cancer Screening participated on 7 May 2026 in a cross-regional thematic day focused on increasing participation in cancer screening under Cancer Plan V. The event brought together a wide range of experts, researchers, healthcare professionals, and key stakeholders from different regions with the aim of exploring and addressing the challenges that influence public participation in national screening programmes.

During the workshop, participants worked systematically to identify both structural, social, and individual barriers to screening participation. At the same time, attention was given to the factors that can promote higher uptake, including communication strategies, accessibility of services, the organisation of screening programmes, and targeted interventions for underserved or vulnerable population groups. The discussions also focused on developing concrete initiatives and potential solutions that could help improve participation rates while ensuring more equitable access to early cancer detection across different segments of the population.

The thematic day further served as an important platform for cross-regional knowledge exchange and contributed to strengthening collaboration between regions on the development of more effective and equitable screening strategies. Overall, the initiative aimed to support a more consistent and fair approach to cancer prevention by improving participation in screening programmes nationwide.

Author

Ulrik Deding

Region of Southern Denmark hosted the international policy event Health in Europe: Joint Actions, Joint Future in October 2025 during the Danish EU Presidency. The event brought together leading European stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, healthcare professionals, and representatives from major EU Joint Actions under the EU4Health programme to strengthen strategic cooperation, create synergies, and promote knowledge sharing across borders. EUcanScreen was represented alongside several large-scale European Joint Actions focusing on cancer, non-communicable diseases, mental health, dementia, and the European Health Data Space.

The full-day event focused on how European collaboration can contribute to more sustainable and effective health systems capable of addressing some of the most pressing public health challenges facing Europe today. Discussions highlighted the importance of long-term cooperation, evidence-based policymaking, stakeholder engagement, and cross-sectoral partnerships to strengthen prevention, reduce inequalities in health, and improve access to high-quality healthcare services across Member States.

Throughout the programme, participating Joint Actions presented their latest insights, achievements, and sustainability strategies within areas such as cancer prevention and care, mental health, dementia, health data infrastructure, and non-communicable diseases. Several speakers emphasized that no single country can solve these challenges alone and that stronger European collaboration is essential to ensure resilient and future-proof healthcare systems.

A central theme of the conference was sustainability and how the outcomes from Joint Actions can continue to create value beyond the project period. Discussions addressed mechanisms for successful implementation, policy integration, accountability, knowledge translation, and the importance of embedding project results into national healthcare structures and decision-making processes.

The event also underlined the growing importance of collaboration between European institutions, healthcare providers, patient organisations, researchers, and policymakers to ensure that innovations and best practices are translated into real-world impact. Particular attention was given to reducing social inequalities in health, improving prevention strategies, supporting mental health initiatives, advancing cancer care networks, and strengthening the implementation of the European Health Data Space.

By bringing together experts and decision-makers from across Europe, Health in Europe: Joint Actions, Joint Future created an important platform for dialogue, mutual learning, and future collaboration. The event contributed to strengthening the foundation for sustainable European health initiatives and reinforced the shared ambition of improving public health outcomes and healthcare resilience across Europe.

Authors

Camilla Stryhn, Søren Lange Nielsen