Breast Cancer

Breast cancer and advanced breast cancer remain a serious threat to women, families and European society. It is the leading cause of cancer death in women, and European women’s probability of developing breast cancer over a lifetime is approximately 1 in 8. Yet, there are major disparities in screening between the different EU Member States, which means many women aren’t being diagnosed early enough when the disease is still treatable and often curable.

When it comes to women with metastatic or advanced breast cancer, there is still a lot to be done to provide appropriate care and support. This is why in 2017 ECPC came together with leading voices in the breast cancer community to launch a ‘Call for Change’ for the EU and Member States to significantly improve the quality of life and emotional well-being of patients and their families.

The multi-stakeholder initiative ‘Transforming Breast Cancer Together’ wants to reaffirm clear objectives to improve services for women in an area still of high unmet medical need, as launched in the European Parliament in 2017. Any organisation committed to improving cancer care in Europe is welcome to join this common effort. We need to ensure that all women diagnosed with breast cancer have access to treatment in a specialist breast-unit centre by a multidisciplinary team – including women with advanced and metastatic breast cancer – and that greater support is provided to women who relapse and develop advanced breast cancer or receive their first diagnosis in the advanced setting, among other recommendations.

You can help us bring this message to national authorities in your country and drive the call for change. Please check out the ‘Call for Change’ and ‘White Paper’ available in several languages, which you can use as a powerful advocacy tool and get in touch with us if you need more support or would like to join this initiative.