Cancer prevention: ESMO partnering with EONS on a year-long campaign

Growing knowledge about mechanisms of cancer causation coupled with concerns about the long-term sustainability of oncology are posing the intensification of cancer prevention efforts at the frontline as the most cost-effective strategy for the control of cancer. At today’s opening of the ESMO Congress 2022 in Paris, where the latest breakthroughs in cancer research will be presented, the launch of the Europe-wide Cancer Prevention Across Europe campaign (PrEvCan) was announced, reinforcing the message that prevention is no less important than advances with treatments to reduce the burden of the disease worldwide.

The campaign is initiated and led by the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) with ESMO as key partner, alongside the European Cancer Patients Coalition (ECPC) and around 50 other international and national organisations. Over a one-year period starting from October 2022, the campaign will focus on the promotion of the 12 recommendations to reduce individual cancer risk which have been included in the European Code Against Cancer (ECAC), developed by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

According to the Global Cancer Observatory, the number of new cancer cases in Europe will climb to an estimated 5.96 million by 2040, with mortality expected to rise to 2.91 million patients. In this scenario, prevention would play a key role toward a more sustainable cancer care. “By reducing the number of cancer cases upfront as well as by increasing the rate of early diagnoses, where appropriate, we can substantially improve healthy individuals and patient outcomes,” says ESMO Public Policy Director Dr. Rosa Giuliani. “At the same time, we can alleviate the strains on our health ecosystem in areas such as sourcing and providing access to medicines."

Partnering with the campaign, ESMO takes a further step into the field of prevention after the collaboration with IARC on the World Cancer Report Updates Learning Platform to ensure that oncologists become knowledgeable in prevention and act as role models for their patients.

“Our community has traditionally considered prevention to be mainly a topic for family doctors and organ specialists,” stated ESMO President Prof. Solange Peters in a previous interview on the ESMO Perspectives. “As disease specialists, we must be able to provide competent answers based on a firm grasp of the latest numbers, survivor data and research findings. Contrary to what many patients still believe, it is never too late to adopt a preventive lifestyle. This vital insight is something we neglected in the past and need to act on going forward.”