European breast cancer advocates meet at Zagreb conference

The European breast cancer network Europa Donna is holding a pan-European conference in Zagreb this weekend that is covering the EU's Beating Cancer Plan as well as a whole host of breast-cancer related topics from new treatment methods to new approaches to quality of life for survivors.

The EU's Cancer Plan was covered in a key note speech by EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kiriyakides. Although breast cancer mortality is decreasing in many European countries, the number of breast cancer cases is increasing. Furthermore, outcomes are different across member states. The EU’s plan addresses inequities across Europe and how to reduce them.

"In 21st Century Europe it is unacceptable that screening and diagnosis to be dependent on where you were born or other factors over which you have no control. That is a future challenge for us the EC must be closer to reduce inequalities and even more to develop solutions to address them,” said Kiriyakides.

Slovenia and Croatia, two countries that are neighbors, are an example of the inequities addressed in the plan.

“There is a big difference between diagnostics and genetic testing. Slovenia has been doing this for more than 15 years, and this year, new therapies related to the mutations of these genes have arrived,” said Tanja Španić, President of the European Coalition to Fight Breast Cancer Europa Donna.

Croatian breast cancer advocates say Croatia still has a long way to go in implementing its own strategic plan for fighting breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among women in Croatia, around 3 thousand annually. Around 700 women in Croatia die of breast cancer every year. Mortality in Croatia has decreased by about 30 percent in the last few years, but there are many shortcomings.

"All in all, we don't have the foundation, and that is a networked oncological system. We still don't know which are our centers of excellence, to what extent a hospital that treats cancer can really help patients and do they even know where they need to go for treatment,” says Vesna Ramljak, the president of the Croatian branch of Europa Donna.