On the occasion of the European Week Against Cancer (EWAC), the ACHIEVE Coalition and the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) supported on Wednesday 26 of June the organisation of the webinar ‘How to avoid viral exposure that can increase your cancer risk? Preventing cancers caused by infections’ hosted by the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) with support from the European Cancer Organisation (ECO).
Speaking about cancer prevention opportunities linked to hepatitis elimination, MEP Radan Kanev(EPP Group Bulgaria) urged EU policymakers to reduce the cancer burden in Europe by accelerating the elimination of viral hepatitis (responsible for 76% of liver cancer cases worldwide) in the implementation of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. For MEP Kanev, the EU should also implement the Council Recommendation on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and support funding for initiatives targeting communicable diseases, such as a EU4Health-funded communicable diseases network.
EASL EU Policy Councillor Prof Maria Buti discussed the linkage between viral hepatitis and liver cancer, and ACHIEVE Co-Chair Ivana Dragojevic provided a patient perspective on the challenges faced by people living with hepatitis-caused liver cancer.
ACHIEVE is a member of the Cancer Complications and Comorbidities Initiative led by the ECPC. Read here the White Paper on Cancer Comorbidities and Complications to which ACHIEVE contributed with a section on the relationship between hepatitis and cancer.