ELPA President, Marko Korenjak, was invited as a speaker in The Economist’s 8th Annual World Cancer Series Europe. The focus of this year’s conference, which takes place in Brussels on November 8-9, 2022, was ”innovation, equity, and excellence”. The event aimed to identify strategies to accelerate innovation, reduce inequities across Europe’s cancer control, and build towards universally excellent cancer control and outcomes across the continent. This timely and essential discussion occurred against the backdrop of implementing the EU Beating Cancer Plan, recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and a Europe facing security challenges and a significant refugee crisis.
ELPA President, invited to the panel “Stepping up prevention – the foundation of cancer control”, took the opportunity to emphasise the importance of preventive strategies in the Beating Cancer Plan and the specific interventions planned at an EU and country level. Measures should go further, and personalised and preventative health and digital tools should play a more prominent role in reaching vulnerable and underserved populations.