Each year, World Cancer Day is a reminder of the scale of Europe’s cancer burden - with more than 3.2 million people diagnosed and 1.5 million lives lost every year - but also of our shared determination to improve the lives of every person affected by cancer. This year’s theme, United by Unique, captures a core truth of modern cancer care: every patient’s experience is personal, and policies must reflect that individuality. Precision and personalised oncology offer huge potential, but unlocking it requires political will and long-term investment at both national and EU levels.
From policy to practice: closing the implementation gap
Over the past five years, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP) has created a strong framework for more equitable, innovative and people-centered cancer care. The new report Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan in Action: National Implementation for the Future1, jointly developed by Cancer Patients Europe and the EFPIA Oncology Platform, analyses six Member States’ progress in integrating EBCP priorities into their National Cancer Control Programmes (NCCPs). The study confirms that while momentum exists, gaps between planning and real-world delivery persist — with serious consequences for patients.
Europe needs sustained investment in screening, early detection, treatment and personalised medicine, and cancer research to ensure innovation reaches the patients who need it
Implementation is not just technical: delayed diagnoses, unequal access to innovation, poorer outcomes, and avoidable mortality all stem from underfunded or weakly monitored national cancer control plans. The message was clear: Europe must ensure that national strategies move from paper to practice.
Patients as partners in implementation
Countries that meaningfully include patients in NCCP governance consistently achieve the strongest progress. Patient insight reveals real barriers in screening, diagnosis, survivorship, and daily care that do not surface through system-level data alone. Patients must be codesigners of national plans, investment priorities, and monitoring frameworks.
The case for sustained, strategic investment
Precision oncology is improving outcomes, but only where infrastructure, workforce capacity, and research ecosystems exist. Europe needs sustained investment in screening, early detection, treatment and personalised medicine, and cancer research to ensure innovation reaches the patients who need it.
Each year, World Cancer Day is a reminder of the scale of Europe’s cancer burden - with more than 3.2 million people diagnosed and 1.5 million lives lost every year
The report highlights deep inequities in access to screening, diagnostics and innovation. Screening participation varies up to tenfold across Member States, and no country has yet reached the EBCP target of 90% coverage in major programmes. Without early detection, precision treatment comes too late.
Turning plans into reality
The EBCP offers a strong vision, but National Cancer Plans are where this vision becomes reality. To maintain momentum, governments should adopt the report’s recommendations, including:
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Fully aligning national plans with EBCP priorities, including inequalities, paediatric cancer, and personalised medicine.
At the EU level, further leadership is essential. Europe should:
Europe must stay the course
Europe stands at a pivotal moment. The political momentum of the Beating Cancer Plan must be matched with longterm funding, strong accountability, and patient-centred implementation. On World Cancer Day, the message is simple: to ensure every person receives timely, highquality, personalised cancer care, Europe must commit, invest, and deliver.
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