NEWS RELEASE

(Download the PDF version here)

Too many children and adolescents still die of cancer, more than from any other disease in Europe – over 6,000 young lives are lost each year[1] – and up to an estimated 500,000 survivors are affected by long-term complications into adulthood[2].

On 30 September 2021, the SIOPE-MAC Policy Webinar for Gold September – Childhood Cancer Awareness Month took place virtually, hosted by MEP Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (Renew Europe, France) in collaboration with SIOP Europe , CCI Europe, PanCare as well as the MEPs Against Cancer (MAC) Interest Group and ECL.  

The event gave an overview of measures and projects planned as part of the ongoing major EU initiatives in the field of childhood cancers, showed their complementarity and presented civil society’s call for the creation of an overarching EU multistakeholder Childhood Cancer Advisory Board to monitor and support their implementation.

This webinar gathered over 150 participants and included special video addresses from the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel and MAC Co-Chair MEP Loucas Fourlas as well as contributions from officials at the European Commission’s DG SANTE and RTD, MEPs, and the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Academia, researchers and patient, parent and survivor representatives were in the spotlight, setting the scene and contributing to an interactive exchange around 3 main topics:

1. Involvement of the European paediatric oncology community including academia, patients, families and survivors in the implementation of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and Horizon Europe’s programme, including the Mission on Cancer
2. The current EU legislative landscape of international sharing of personal health data for research
3. Childhood cancer survivorship

Professor Véronique Trillet-Lenoir MEP, event host and MAC Co-Chair stated: “Focused implementation of childhood cancer actions in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, coordination with the Cancer Mission and Pharmaceutical Strategy, and meaningful involvement of civil society in the process is key to accelerate tangible results towards Beating Childhood Cancer in Europe.”

Professor Pamela Kearns, SIOP Europe President added: “The European paediatric cancer community is encouraged by the high level of recognition of the urgent needs in childhood cancer on the EU agenda. We are ready to engage actively to maximise the impact of the implementation phase across all relevant initiatives.”

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, Horizon Europe’s Mission on Cancer as well as the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe are uniquely positioned to foster transformational change for children and adolescents with cancer, survivors, and families across Europe.

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ABOUT THE EVENT ORGANISERS 

The MEPs Against Cancer (MAC) Interest Group was founded in 2005 by a group of committed MEPs for MEPs. MAC remains the largest and oldest (and until 2020 the only) dedicated group for cancer policy at the European Parliament. MAC members work together in order to improve cancer control and prevention in Europe, in the belief that European cooperation adds value to member states’ actions.
 

The Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) is a non-profit, pan-European umbrella organisation that unites, supports and represents national and regional cancer societies across 25 countries in the WHO European region. ECL provides an exclusive platform for members to collaborate with their international peers, primarily in the areas of cancer prevention, access to medicines and patient support, and creates opportunities to advocate for these issues at the EU level and beyond.

The European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP Europe or SIOPE) is the only pan-European organisation representing all professionals working in the field of childhood cancers. With more than 2000 members across 35 countries, SIOP Europe is leading the way to ensure the best possible care and outcomes for all children and adolescents with cancer in Europe.
 

Childhood Cancer International – Europe (CCI Europe) represents childhood cancer parents’ and survivors’ groups as well as other childhood cancer organisations in Europe: 66 organisations in 36 European countries are members of CCI. CCI Europe works together with all relevant stakeholders for the same aim, namely to help children and adolescents with cancer to be cured, with no – or as few as possible – long term health problems/late effects.

PanCare, a multidisciplinary pan‐European network of professionals, survivors and their families that aims to reduce the frequency, severity and impact of late side‐effects of the treatment of children and adolescents with cancer. Together with the paediatric oncology community, PanCare is working to achieve equity of access to care for childhood cancer survivors across Europe, to perform collaborative research, to develop evidence-based surveillance guidelines together with the International Guideline Harmonisation Group and to act as a resource of research-based information concerning all late side‐effects of cancer treatment.