Almost a million cases of cancer in Europe go unnoticed due to Covid-19. In total, cancer screening tests not performed in the Old Continent during the pandemic amount to 100 million. Up to one in two people with potential symptoms of cancer have not been urgently referred for a diagnosis. While one in five patients in Europe is still not receiving the surgical or chemotherapy treatment they need. These are the recent data published by the European Cancer Organization (ECO) which today presents the Time To Act campaign in a webinar: it is time to act, do not allow Covid-19 to hinder the fight against cancer. The initiative is extended to all of Europe and is led by the task force of the ECO special network: Impact of Covid-19 on cancer.
Don’t stop diagnoses
The campaign’s goal is to urge the public, cancer patients, politicians and healthcare professionals to ensure that Covid-19 does not continue to undermine the fight against cancer. “The results focus on the impact of the Coronavirus on cancer – he says Matti Apro, president of ECO -. We desperately need urgent measures at the highest level of European policy to recover what has been lost in the field of cancer. We need to restore confidence in cancer services and tackle the shortage of workforce and supplies ”.
Oncologists on the front line
At the forefront in Italy for the Time To Act campaign are FOCE (Federation of Oncologists, Cardiologists and Hematologists) and AIOM (Italian Association of Medical Oncology). “Covid-19 has produced incalculable damage in the diagnosis and treatment of tumors – he underlines Francesco Cognetti, president of FOCE. It is inevitable in the near future to see an increase in mortality from these diseases which could thus cancel the benefits produced by research and innovation in the last 20 years. Of particular concern is the decline in cancer screening, which still does not resume with the necessary regularity, and which will determine a consistent increase in the mortality rate from cancer in the medium and long term. In addition, two thirds of patients with Covid mortality also had concomitant oncological, cardiological or haematological diseases.
New funds for health
According to oncologists, it is now necessary to address the structural, organizational and functional shortcomings of the national health system that were highlighted during the pandemic. “We remember in fact – continues Cognetti – that with over 127 thousand deaths and a mortality rate of 2.99% we are in first place in Europe in terms of mortality in those infected with Coronavirus. And this happened despite the fact that the infection rates were not very high. Furthermore, our country is first in Europe for excess mortality due to non-Covid diseases, in this period. For a return to normality, new funds are essential to the health sector to compensate for the gap in structures, doctors, nurses and financing that we currently have with other European countries. We therefore need a serious strengthening of the hospitals that have been weakened by years of irresponsible and indiscriminate cutting policies ”.
Strengthen Cancer Networks
“We enthusiastically support this new campaign conducted at the continental level – he adds Saverio Cinieri, president-elect Aiom. Covid has highlighted some inefficiencies of our health services, especially the territorial ones which often did not have the strength and the means to manage the enormous amount of work caused by the pandemic. This has also happened in the oncology field where the creation of the Regional Oncological Networks is very necessary. They represent the best possible tool to strengthen the links between centers of reference and territorial medicine. As Aiom we have been engaged for months on a tour with representatives of all the Regions and Autonomous Provinces of the Peninsula to urge the establishment or implementation of these health facilities. Beyond better organization, new and greater public investments in health are still indispensable ”.
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