Cancer: Improving Early Detection

DP/C-g-09.1.2 Call for proposals: action grants to support accreditation and certification of quality assurance schemes for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening programmes

POLICY CONTEXT

Cancer screening is necessary for disease risk reduction as it allows the detection of the disease at an early stage of invasiveness or even before the cancer becomes invasive.

Screening therefore is an important tool in limiting morbidity and improving survival rates of those who have developed cancer.

In the Union, countries have adopted significant measures to deliver cancer screening services to their populations as recommended in the Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening¹⁸. Screening methodologies are subject to ongoing development and therefore the application of recommended screening approaches and methodologies should be accompanied by simultaneous assessments of the quality, applicability and cost-effectiveness of new methods.

Quality assurance at all levels of population-based screening programmes can only be ensured if good information about benefits and risks, adequate resources, follow-up with complementary diagnostic procedures and treatment of those with a positive screening test are available.

The report on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on cancer screening (2017)¹⁹ demonstrated barriers to access to screening services by the population and also to deliver quality-assured services. These barriers introduce serious inequities at the Union level and the delivery of quality-assured services in a population-based approach still has to be assessed and addressed through pragmatic public health initiatives in many countries.

This action supports the implementation of a Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan flagship initiative and implements the EU4Health Programme’s general objective of improving and fostering health in the Union (Article 3, point (a)) through the specific objectives defined in Article 4, points (a) and (j) of Regulation (EU) 2021/522.

OBJECTIVES, SCOPE AND ACTIVITIES

To support the Member States in the implementation of accreditation and certification schemes for cancer screening programmes in agreement with the Union (EU) guidelines and quality assurance schemes for population based screening programmes. Activities will include the organisation, implementation and running of accreditation and certification activities making use of guidelines for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening, diagnosis and care.

EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACT

The expected result is the implementation at national and regional level of accreditation and certification of quality assurance schemes for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening.

This action will improve the quality and performance of population-based screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers and will reduce the disparity among the Member States associated with an unequal access to quality-assured screening programmes.

18 OJ L 327, 16.12.2003, p.34-38.

19 Cancer Screening in the European Union (2017). Report on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on cancer screening, International Agency for Research on Cancer.

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INDICATIVE TIMETABLE,BUDGET,IMPLEMENTATION AND PROCEDURE TYPE Call topic/sub-topic Estimated call publication Budget

Call for Proposals – 09.1.2 Q2-Q3/2021 2 000 000 EUR

Procedure type Implemented by Type of applicants targeted

Open call for proposals

(action grants) HaDEA

Civil society organisations (associations, foundations, NGOs

and similar entities); academia and education establishments, research institutes, hospitals, expert networks and Member States’ authorities - cancer centres

DP/C-g-09.2.2 Call for proposals: action grants on collection tasks in relation to updating the European Cancer Information System to monitor and assess cancer screening programmes

POLICY CONTEXT

The European Cancer Information System (ECIS) managed by the Joint Research Centre provides the latest information on indicators that quantify cancer burden across Europe. It permits the exploration of geographical patterns and temporal trends of incidence, mortality and survival data across Europe for the major cancer entities. The survival rate for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer is a key indicator of how effective healthcare systems are in cancer care, reflecting both efficiency in early detection and the effectiveness of treatment.

There is a need to further develop the ECIS to enable the monitoring and assessment of cancer screening programmes, which will require the collection of the relevant data from those entities in the Member States responsible for cancer screening.

This action supports the implementation of a Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan flagship initiative and links also with the European Health Data Space and implements the EU4Health responsible for collecting data on cancer screening, in order to provide this data to ECIS, and develop a piloting of the new ECIS functionality as well as a new separate section to ensure a permanent collection and monitoring of the coverage and performance indicators of population-based cancer screening across the Union.

EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACT

The expected result is the collection of the relevant cancer screening data from the Member States.

This action will improve the monitoring of the implementation of cancer screening programmes across the Union, and will have an impact on the implementation of such programmes by providing the Member States with evidence-based information to strengthen their programmes.

INDICATIVE TIMETABLE,BUDGET,IMPLEMENTATION AND PROCEDURE TYPE Call topic/sub-topic Estimated call publication Budget

Call for Proposals – 09.2.2 Q2-Q3/2021 2 000 000 EUR

Procedure type Implemented by Type of applicants targeted

Open call for proposals

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education establishments;

research institutes and civil society organisations (associations, foundations, NGOs

and similar entities).

2.4. Cancer: ENSURING ACCESS TO HIGH STANDARD CANCER CARE DIAGNOSIS AND