In short
The EU is launching EUCanScreen to improve cancer screening across Europe. It supports high-quality programs for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer, and introduces screening for lung, prostate, and gastric cancers. The project will be coordinated by the University of Latvia, and will involve additional 28 competent authorities, 61 affiliated partners, and 7 associated partners. It builds on past EU efforts and aims to reduce cancer and ensure equal care for all. The work is organized into 11 connected work areas.
The Cancer Centre of Sciensano plays a central role in the project, contributing both on a strategical and operational level across multiple work packages. As the Competent Authority (CA), Sciensano is actively involved in all work packages and holds a leadership position in WP8, which focuses on facilitating the implementation of new screening approaches (lung, prostate & gastric screening programs).
Project description
Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan has called for a new EU-Supported Cancer Screening Scheme to assure high performance of cancer screening programs across all the Member States (MS). The general objective of EUCanScreen is to assure sustainable implementation of high-quality screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer as well as implementation of the recently recommended screening programs – for lung, prostate and gastric cancers. EUCanScreen will facilitate the reduction of cancer burden and achieving equity across the EU.
Seven specific objectives have been set for EUCanScreen:
- Ensuring full implementation of evidence-based, cost-effective and quality-assured screening programmes for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers;
- Preparing for implementation of evidence based, cost-effective and quality-assured screening programmes for lung, prostate and gastric cancers;
- Ensuring proper program governance and sustainability;
- Ensuring better-quality, timelier and comparable data collection and monitoring of screening programmes;
- Ensuring equal access of eligible EU citizens to screening programmes and reducing cancer inequalities;
- Ensuring capacity building in cancer screening, and
- Ensuring collaboration and coherence with related projects funded under EU Programmes.
The work-plan of EUCanScreen has been built on the results of previous and ongoing major EU activities in screening; it is designed within eleven closely interlinked work-packages.
The consortium is bringing together well-performing screening programs to those that require substantial improvements. Altogether 29 partnering countries are represented in the consortium, including 25 EU MS, Ukraine, Moldova, Norway and Iceland. The project will be coordinated by the University of Latvia, and will involve additional 28 competent authorities, 59 affiliated partners, and 10 associated partners.
Sciensano, Cancer Centre, plays a central role in the project, contributing both strategically and operationally across multiple work packages. As the Competent Authority (CA), Sciensano is actively involved in all work packages and holds a leadership position in WP8, which focuses on facilitating the implementation of new screening approaches (lung, prostate & gastric screening programs).
The Cancer Centre also contributes to several other key areas, including monitoring (WP5), identifying and addressing barriers and facilitators in cancer screening (WP6), conducting implementation research to improve existing screening programmes (WP7), exploring risk-based approaches to screening (WP9), and supporting modelling and health technology assessment (WP10).
In addition, Sciensano leads and supports tasks within WP9 related to the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention (task 9.6), and contributes to task 9.3 through activities such as meta-analyses and surveys focused on individualised cervical cancer screening and the incorporation of advanced triage methods.
Participants
Visit the full participants list here : 
EU JA CanScreen participants list
Project Coordinator Contact Information
University of Latvia, The Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine
EUCanScreen Project Coordination Team
Central project email: screening@lu.lv
Funding Statement
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor HADEA can be held responsible for them.
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