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Cancer is a major disease and cause of death in Europe. The organisation and delivery of health services and medical care are national responsibilities, but the EU can complement those policies and help improve public health and tackle disease.
Council recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening (OJ L 327, 16.12.2003, pp. 34-38).
Screening makes it possible to detect cancers at an early stage, improving the chances of successful treatment. The recommendation urges EU countries to implement cancer screening programmes. It covers factors such as registering and managing screening data, monitoring the process and training of personnel. The European Commission reports on the implementation of these programmes, encourages national authorities to cooperate on research and best practice and helps develop guidelines on cancer screening.
The number of estimated cancer-related deaths in the EU in 2012 was 1.263 million. Lung cancer was the most common, followed by colorectal, breast and stomach cancer. In the same year, just over 2.6 million new cases of cancer, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, were diagnosed.
For more information, see ‘Major and chronic diseases’on the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety website.
Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Implementation of the Communication from the Commission, from 24 June 2009, on Action Against Cancer: European Partnership (COM (2009) 291 final) and Second Implementation Report on the Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening (2003/878/EC) (COM(2014) 584 final, 23.9.2014.
Commission Decision of 3 June 2014 establishing a Commission expert group on Cancer Control and repealing Decision 96/469/EC (2014/C 167/05) (OJ C 167, 4.6.2014, pp. 4-8).
last update 09.07.2015
(1) The United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union and becomes a third country (non-EU country) as of 1 February 2020.