Catching up with EU-TOPIA: Effective screening to reduce Europe’s cancer burden
The EU-funded EU-TOPIA (EU-TOPIA: TOWARDS IMPROVED SCREENING FOR BREAST, CERVICAL AND COLORECTAL CANCER IN ALL OF EUROPE) project produced roadmaps that presented detailed actions for Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Finland to take for enhancing existing screening programmes or activities. About 160 people from 32 countries within Europe and two countries beyond attended at least one workshop. In all these countries, cancer screening programme experts were given the opportunity to seriously consider their monitoring process, long-term consequences, barriers and possible changes. In addition, EU-TOPIA developed an evaluation tool enabling users to upload their monitoring data and calculate the outcomes of their current screening programmes. “By using this tool, for many countries this was the first time to gain insight into the effects of their own screening programmes based on their epidemiological and screening data,” comments project coordinator Prof. Dr Harry de Koning of the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Successor EU-TOPIA-EAST is turning the comprehensive roadmaps into action plans for Georgia (breast), Montenegro (colorectal) and Romania (cervix). Using these as a basis, the three countries have begun preparations for introducing improved cancer screening. In western Georgia, a new centre for performing breast and cervical cancer screening will open in the spring of 2023. Romania will start organised screening by invitation. In Montenegro, the colorectal cancer screening programme has been restarted after a pause of more than 2 years. The country also aims to boost its colonoscopy capacity. EU-TOPIA partners have been very active in EU cancer screening policy as part of an expert group working with the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism high-level expert group that published recommendations in 2022 resulting in a revision to the Council screening recommendations. These revised recommendations represent 1 of 42 actions of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. “In particular, the recommendation to implement lung and prostate cancer screening will lead to a substantial increase in citizens invited for screening and a decrease in cancer deaths across Europe,” concludes Prof. Dr de Koning. EU funding has played a major role in EU-TOPIA’s success with far-reaching implications for our health and well-being in the years to come. Modifying screening programmes should potentially saves the lives of thousands of European citizens.
Keywords
EU-TOPIA, cancer, screening, breast, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer