New report urges EU countries to step up efforts towards national programmes

EU member states are being urged to intensify their efforts towards implementing national screening programmes for prostate, lung and gastric cancers. Regular monitoring of national efforts — including the creation of a screening implementation report every five years — is essential to track progress and ensure that improvements reach citizens and patients.

The recommendations come from experts in cancer screening in the European Cancer Organisation’s Prevention, Early Detection and Screening Network. Europa Uomo is represented through the European Cancer Organisation's Patient Advisory Committee.

Five years into Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the report calls for more efficient and equitable cancer screening across Europe. And three years on from the European Council’s recommendation that screening should include prostate, lung and gastric cancers, it reports that there is “steady but unequal” progress on implementing prostate, lung and gastric cancer screening.

It notes the ongoing prostate cancer screening pilots supported by the PRAISE-U project in Spain, Poland, Lithuania and Ireland – which are rolling out organised screening based on PSA testing combined with risk-stratification tools.

“This represents a shift away from opportunistic testing, yet full nationwide programmes remain limited,” says the report, titled ‘Next Level for Cancer Screening: from commitments to continued action for early cancer detection’. “Key challenges include balancing potential mortality reduction with the risks of overdiagnosis and overtreatment, as well as ensuring cost-effective implementation.”

Researchers and authors from ECO’s screening network conducted visits to European countries and analysed information from the European Cancer Pulse database to assess screening progress across the continent. It found a mixed picture on prostate cancer screening, noting a lack of progress towards organised screening in Slovakia, but positive developments in:

• Italy: “National progress towards organised prostate and lung cancer screening” and “initiation of a prostate cancer screening pilot and a lung cancer screening programme in the Lombardy region”
• Croatia: “Progress towards organised prostate cancer screening, through a local pilot in Zagreb and a national awareness campaign”
• Cyprus: “Preparation for implementation of nationwide population-based screening programmes for cervical and prostate cancer by the Cyprus Ministry of Health”