Croatia plans to spend €8.5 billion on its national cancer strategy until 2025 to reduce a cancer-related death rate public health officials claim is “among the highest in Europe”.
The plan was presented by the head of Croatia’s public health institute HZJZ Krunoslav Capak who spoke at an event attended by experts and members of cancer patients’ groups.
“We plan on improving and expanding our three existing early detection screening programmes – for breast, colon, and cervical cancers – and also launch new programmes for other types of cancers. There was recently a decision by the European Commission which expanded screenings to include lung, prostate, and stomach cancer,” said Capak.
The plans include new screening methods, expanding age groups covered by testing, additional promotion of these programmes, and introducing new types of tests.
Speaking of the event he attended, Capak said: “The discussion highlighted that even though the plan has financial backing, it also lacks in some areas – neither people nor institutions which should implement the plan have been designated yet, and no deadlines have been defined,” the state news platform Hina reported.
Improvements are also needed regarding the better cooperation of general practitioners and patronage nurses, educational campaigns, developing software infrastructure and building a clinical database which would “involve all relevant institutions,” other panellists who spoke at the event said.
A programme for early skin cancer detection is also set to launch soon and will involve screening people belonging to at-risk groups, such as everyone over 50. A ban on tanning salons for everyone under 18 will also be proposed, as these are believed to be a risk factor for skin cancer.
According to data compiled by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR), around 14,000 Croatians die from cancer every year.
In 2020, Croatia had the fifth highest cancer mortality rate in the EU – behind Slovakia, Poland, Cyprus and Hungary. For lung, colon, and prostate cancers, the mortality rate is above the EU average.
(David Spaic-Kovacic | EURACTIV.hr)
Source: euractiv.com
