We recently attended an expert workshop preparing for the development of the third EU Cancer Screening Report. The workshop was hosted by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and brought together experts from across Europe to strengthen how cancer screening is planned, measured and improved.
Together, we focused on building strong, reliable evidence to guide future screening policy.
Key areas of discussion included:
- how the new report will link with the European Cancer Information System
- improving how countries collect and report screening data
- learning from each other’s progress and challenges
- developing clear, consistent indicators to support reliable comparisons
- strengthening early detection across Europe.
We also reviewed findings from the survey of cancer screening programmes in EU member states for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate and gastric cancers. We agreed next steps for data collection and future meetings.
The workshop gave us an opportunity to collaborate with international experts and discuss the impact of differing national screening policies across Europe on achieving data standardisation.
This collaborative work will help ensure the third EU Cancer Screening Report is robust, harmonised, and focused on what matters most: better outcomes for people through prevention and early detection.