While France holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran detailed this morning the priorities of the Government concerning the fight against cancer.
- 150 international experts have rallied around Inca to propose more than 30 new concrete actions against cancer.
- They will be relayed by each Member State to the Presidency of the European Union.
During the first edition of the European meetings organized by the National Cancer Institute (Inca), the Minister of Health Olivier Véran explained this morning what would be the oncological priorities of France during its presidency of the Council of the European Union .
He has first “welcomed a major step forward that took place yesterday: Parliament endorsed the reduction to five years of the right to be forgotten for cancer pathologies and hepatitis C. Parliament also abolished the health questionnaire for certain mortgages”. And added: “it’s not a symbol, it’s tangible, it counts. We owe this progress in particular to the associations and the Inca”.
5 priority areas
The Minister of Health then affirmed, after having regretted that the Covid-19 pandemic had delayed too much care, that “The French Presidency of the European Union has placed the fight against cancer at the top of its priorities, after having launched its new ten-year strategy against these diseases last year”.
For him, one of the key factors in the fight against cancer is the strengthening of European and international cooperation, in order to improve the prevention, treatment and monitoring of this type of pathology, and to have innovative medical supplies. at affordable prices. 4 other priorities for European action were mentioned in his speech: childhood cancers, cancers with a poor prognosis, the employment of patients or ex-patients and finally prevention.
“We need to be more effective on prevention, because 40% of cancers are caused by avoidable risk factors: tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity, pollution and infectious agents” , rightly recalled Olivier Véran. “We must implement large-scale and high-impact actions, particularly against tobacco, which is our main enemy”, he pointed out.
Aside from cervical cancer
Finally, the Minister of Health made an aside on cancer of the cervix, which early vaccination against the HPV virus can now prevent. “In particular, I am leading a fight against the papillomavirus, which must be done on a national and European scale”, he explained. “We cannot be satisfied with having such low vaccination coverage in a country like ours, even though there are so many preventable cancers that affect young women”, he judges, conceding in conclusion “that today there is a very strong sensitivity when we talk about vaccination”.
In 2020, 2.7 million people were diagnosed with cancer and almost 1.3 million died from it in the European Union, which is huge considering our small population. The European plan to combat cancer will be presented on 15 February in plenary session of the European Parliament.