Introduction to the Supplement 'Coming together to fight cancer: a series of policy briefs taking stock of the implementation of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan in Belgium'

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main public health challenges globally. In Europe, it is also the second leading cause of mortality and incidence is likely to increase from nearly 4 million cases per year in 2020 to over 5 million new cases per year by 2040. Recognizing the urgency of tackling the entire disease pathway and supporting European Union (EU) Member States (MS), the European Commission (EC) launched two major initiatives: Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP) and the Mission on Cancer (MoC). Belgium is one of the few EU MS that has set up a dedicated structure, known as the Belgian EBCP Mirror Group (MG), to support the implementation of the EU strategy against cancer. The MG is a large national stakeholder platform coordinated by the Cancer Centre at Sciensano (Belgian Institute of Health). This Supplement between includes eight policy briefs developed by the MG on the most pressing needs to address in the Belgian cancer field. The policy briefs take into account relevant interventions at national level as well as Belgium's participation in European projects as of 2021-2023.

Keywords: Cancer; Cancer care and control; Co-design; Implementation research; Policy briefs; Stakeholder engagement.

Fig. 1

Organisation of the Belgian EBCP Mirror Group (MG) into Thematic Working Groups Note: At the launch of the MG, there were initially 8 TWGs. Since then, the MG structure evolved based on the input received from the field. TWG Research has matured into a separate entity the Belgian Cancer Research Alliance. As of August 2024 there are currently 6 TWGs. Please see the BE EBCP Mirror Group website for more information: https://www.beatingcancer.be/about/

Fig. 2

Belgium’s participation in the EBCP projects for the period 2021–2023* *Note: [1] The EU calls listed here are those related to cancer in the EU4Health programme. We are using the participation of the Cancer Centre in the EU4Health Programme as a proxy to Belgium’s participation in the EBCP; [2] Some calls can fund several projects. When this is the case, the projects are counted just once for a better correspondence with the number of EU call openings

Fig. 3

Belgium’s participation in the Mission on Cancer for the period 2021–2022 Note: Latest available data on EU calls and BE projects funded by the Horizon Europe programme Cluster 1 Health and the Mission on Cancer. The calls are categorized based on their link to the 13 Mission on Cancer recommendations; [2] Some calls can fund several projects. When this is the case, the projects are counted just once for a better correspondence with the number of EU call openings