By Martha Moss - 15th October 2010
Cancer is a major problem that unites experts and laymen
Slovakian EPP deputy Miroslav Mikolášik
EU policymakers, Slovakian health officials and cancer specialists have come together to discuss what can be done to tackle the disease at national and European level.
Slovakian EPP deputy Miroslav Mikolášik highlighted the work of the European parliament in putting cancer on the political agenda, with the relaunch of the MEPs against cancer group last month, and the 2008 resolution on combating the disease in the enlarged EU.
Mikolášik was speaking at the latest Parliament Magazine discussion on cancer control, held in Bratislava on Thursday.
"Cancer is the second most serious cause of death in Europe," said the MEP, who is also professionally trained as a medical doctor.
"Every year more than three million people are diagnosed and every third EU citizen will have contact with the disease.
"These statistics are threatening. Cancer is a major problem that unites experts and laymen.
"It is a social and political problem which demands a reaction on European, local and individual level."
Mikolášik welcomed EU initiatives such as the commission's European partnership on action against cancer, which aims to encourage the sharing of information with the overall objective of reducing cancer rates by 15 per cent by 2020.
However, he warned that member states could not "be passive" in the field. And, with health a national competency, he said it would be up to national governments to implement EU regulations and guidelines if they are to have any chance of meeting the ambitious targets.
Early diagnosis
One of the key conclusions to come out of the discussion - which focused on breast, cervical and colorectal cancer - was the economic case for early screening and a focus on prevention rather than palliative care.
"Screening is much cheaper than the follow-up treatment," Mikolášik said.
His comments were echoed by Rudolf Hrcka, of Bratislava's university hospital, who pointed out that 100 per cent of colorectal cancer cases were treatable if they were detected on time.
Hrcka said some 90 per cent of colorectal cancer diagnoses would be made among people aged over 60.
With 1.3 million people in this age group in Slovakia, he called for new methods to encourage people to go for screening, and a new approach to funding.
Research shows that the governments of "civilised countries are willing to invest €37,000 in saving one life", he said.
And with colorectal screening costs of between €6000 and €15,000, he added that the process was a "highly efficient" method of tackling the disease. "We have to realise the cost-effectiveness in advance," he said.
For Eva Siracka, the president of Slovakia's League Against Cancer which helped organise the event, the focus should be on prevention, targeted treatment, patient care and reducing the mortality rate.
Promising to fight cancer "side-by-side" with European and national policymakers, Siracka said discussions of this kind were valuable in bringing together "highly motivated people who have the joint goal of doing something with the social and economic problem of cancer".
"It will be up to our politicians to do this," she said. "It's a world problem and it's only with joint effort that we will manage to do something."
A new approach
Slovakia's state secretary at the health ministry Ján Porubský provided the national perspective, telling participants that it was "inevitable" for the government to support new forms of cancer treatment for the country's 5.4 million-strong population.
"Incidents of carcinogenic diseases are still growing in Slovakia, but there does appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
"Early diagnosis is one thing but accessible treatment is also very important."
Reading out a letter on behalf of Slovakia's health minister Ivan Uhliarik, he also called for a "change of approach" from insurance companies which should focus on promoting screening practices, he said.
"The attendance of women for cervical screening is very low, and breast cancer has a growing tendency," he said.
"One positive is that colorectal carcinoma can be diagnosed early so we can discover when it may be treatable, and the prevention costs are lower than the treatment," Porubský added.
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