This is in the first set of ‘cancer profiles’ of all summaries that the EU Executive Board has had drawn up with countless data on the development, prevention and control of the disease in the EU. The data was collected by the OECD in 2019 and 2020 at the request of the Committee. According to that organization, 267 out of 100,000 inhabitants of the Netherlands died of the disease in 2019, while the EU average was 247 at the time. Lung, breast and colon cancer are the most common in the Netherlands.

According to European Commissioner Stella Kyriakides (Health), the initiative is presented in the context of World Cancer Day on February 4 every 12 seconds somewhere in Europe someone is diagnosed with a form of cancer. “It’s the second most likely cause of death,” she said. Low-educated and lower-income people are more at risk.

The approach to cancer is not yet divided in the EU, says Kyriakides. For example, breast cancer screening or cervical cancer screening is not offered everywhere on a regular basis. They point out that through early detection, treatment and care, more Europeans are surviving cancer. After the summer, the committee will present new proposals on vaccines that could prevent cancer, she said.

According to Kyriakides, it is “unacceptable” that cancer patients are sometimes decades after remission due to their medical history problems being revealed when purchasing insurance and accessing financial services.

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