We call on policymakers to become ambassadors of awareness campaigns at EU, national and regional level, to increase the knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing people with prostate cancer, including in its advanced stage, and the burden of the disease. For example, we call on the European Commission to launch an Initiative on Prostate Cancer, aimed at addressing the unmet needs of prostate cancer patients.

The Mission Boards¹ within the new European Commission’s mission on cancer should ensure that prostate cancer is identified as a specific priority area.
The European Parliament should take action on prostate cancer and work with the Commission and Member States on the implementation of cancer prevention and control plans e.g. by commissioning a report on the state of implementation of the national plans, leading an own-initiative report on cancer addressing the specific needs of people with prostate cancer and creating an integrated European cancer plan.
All national cancer programmes and the work of the European Commission should explicitly address the needs of people living with advanced prostate cancer, setting out the steps that will be taken to improve care, meet the increasing need for treatment and support and evaluate progress on these ambitions.

¹ European Commission. Commission invites top experts to shape new research and innovation missions. 13 May 2019. Accessible at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/commission-invites-top-experts-shape-new-research-and-innovation-missions-2019-may-13_en (last accessed October 2023)

In addition to the European Commission’s Cancer Inequalities Registry and the new European Cancer Pulse launched by the European Cancer Organisation, which map trends in key cancer data identifying inequalities between Member States and regions, we call on European, national and regional policymakers to support research into the inequalities that affect people with prostate cancer, including along socio-economic, ethnic, national and regional lines, as part of the innovation and research grants available under Horizon Europe, EU4Health and national health research budgets¹.

The creation of an integrated cancer plan would further facilitate investment in important research in this field. Comprehensive reporting on healthcare inequalities will facilitate the development of measures to overcome these in the long term.

¹ European Commission. Horizon Europe – the next research and innovation framework programme. Accessible at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/horizon-europe-next-research-and-innovation-framework-programme_en (last accessed October 2023)

We call for a timely implementation of the final revised Council of the European Union Recommendation on cancer screening within national cancer plans. Member States should ensure timely access to high quality multidisciplinary and multi-professional prostate cancer services at every stage of the treatment and care pathway as promoted by ECO’s Essential Requirements for Quality Cancer Care (ERQCC).

Efforts to improve services should be supported by investment in effective treatments for advanced prostate cancer and the implementation of existing guidelines and validated patient information across Europe. Member States should moreover work along with the Commission to update the EU’s Joint Action on Innovation Partnership for Action Against Cancer (IPAAC), to ensure action to improve the prostate cancer care pathway at national level.