Abstract

Cancer is one of the most pressing issues that carries a large burden on society, governments, and healthcare systems, it is the second leading cause of mortality in the EU Member States (MS) after cardiovascular disease. Without strong action, cancer incidence in Europe is expected to increase by a fifth in 2040 translating into more than 5 million cancer cases. The prevention and control of cancer would benefit the majority of citizens since cancer shares common risk factors with other non-communicable diseases. Across Europe, the possibility of receiving a timely cancer diagnosis and of surviving the disease differs considerably because of inequalities in preventive policies, access to state-of-the art diagnostics, treatments and experienced care.

In an effort to tackle cancer, the European Commission launched two major initiatives: 1) Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP) and 2) the Mission on Cancer (MoC) to save 3 million cancer lives by 2030. The EBCP, launched in 2021, is a policy-driven initiative aimed at supporting Member States in addressing every stage of the disease: prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Alongside the EBCP, the European Commission is also working on the digital transformation of health and care, to improve access to and quality of care through the European Digital Strategy. Cancer care is one of the major disease areas that will benefit the most from the digital transformation of healthcare.

The overall aim of this JA is to enhance the digital capabilities of the cancer centres in the Union, particularly in Eastern Europe. The actions will focus on improving the e-health, telemedicine, remote monitoring system, health data access and health data exchange services that are in place or need to be developed in the cancer centres. This will support a better collaboration between the cancer centres by improving cancer prevention, early detection and care.

The JA builds on the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic highlighting the urgent need for European-wide health data sharing and co-ordination. Persistent barriers remain in the areas of interoperability, legal and ethical standards, governance, cybersecurity, technical requirements, and compliance with personal data protection regulations leading to the underuse of health data in research and decision-making. This JA will develop a framework to test and pilot the integration of digital tools in a safe and secure manner complying with all EU regulations (General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Medical device Act, European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulations,…) in order to improve the use and re-use of health data for the benefit of cancer patients.

The general objective of the Joint Action eCAN Plus is building on the experiences from the JA eCAN to enhance digital capabilities of cancer centres in the Union, with particular attention to opportunities in Eastern Europe by:

• Implementing a comprehensive training program for the development of digital skills relevant to telemedicine, remote monitoring and e-health digital tools in the prevention context among HCPs, patients, and the general public
• Enhancing digital collaboration within and between cancer centres (CCs)
• Implementing clinical application of telemedicine tools in different setting of cancer care
• Creating and implementing a solid, integrated framework for cancer patients follow-up and telemonitoring throughout Europe

This JA proposal aims to support the implementation of EBCP’s objective to ensure high standards in cancer care across the Union. It implements the EU4Health Programme’s general objective of improving and fostering health in the Union (Article 3, points (a) and (b)) through the specific objectives defined in Article 4, points (a), (f) and (g) of Regulation (EU) 2021/ 522.