By Pheena Kenny, Public Health Strategy and Development Manager, National Screening Service
We recently joined European partners as part of the EUCanScreen project to collaborate on addressing barriers that stop people from taking part in cancer screening programmes across Europe.
The EUCanScreen project was launched in 2024 and is part of the EU4Health initiative. It aims to improve existing screening programmes for breast, cervical, and bowel cancers, while facilitating the implementation of new programmes for lung, prostate, and stomach cancers. The 4-year project is funded by the European Commission and includes 11 workstreams, with Ireland involved in 8 of these.
The meeting addressed the barriers and facilitators to cancer screening, particularly barriers that disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as immigrants, intellectually disabled or gender diverse people. It was led by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Our collaborative work includes identifying these challenges and developing a toolkit of best practices for European health authorities and policymakers to reduce the inequalities to taking part in screening.
Around 50 participants from 18 EU countries took part in three days of meetings and workshops from 29 to 31 January 2025.
We took part in workshops that explored:
- developing pilot tests for tailored campaigns in selected countries
- methodologies for designing materials for immigrant groups
- strategies to collaborate with immigrants and healthcare professionals to ensure clear, accessible communication.
One of the meetings focused on addressing the gaps in screening participation for immigrants, including engagement with immigrants and understanding and respecting language and culture.
We will continue our work with the group on analyses, toolkits and strategies to address the barriers identified. Our focus is on sharing and learning to improve health preparedness across Europe and enabling more people to take part in cancer screening programmes if they choose to.