Posts by tag
patient advocacy
Equity:The Word That Shaped Her Career From The Lab To The White House:The Story Of Catharine Young
When Catharine Young talks about inequity, she isn’t referring to it in abstract terms. She grew up in South Africa at the end of apartheid, when systemic injustice was not just visible, it was part of daily life. That early…
Europe’s patient advocates skill up to better influence cancer care and research agendas
Patient advocates for a wide range of cancer communities across Europe spent four days at the start of July honing the skills they need to influence the policy, research and healthcare decisions that matter to them. This was the second…
Unicorns for Ukraine: mobilising to meet patients’ changing cancer care needs
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, consultant clinical oncologist Mohammed Hojouj put out a call for help: “Cancers do not stop growing because there is a war. But cancer patients stop being seen as a priority.” The story he…
GDPR: Why patient control over our health data might not be such a bad thing
Cancer patients want our data shared and used in ways that could help us, and those like us. Why wouldn’t we? That’s why patients and patient organisations are broadly supportive of EU proposals to create a Cancer Patient Digital Centre,…
Crisis in the Ukraine: we can help by doing what we do best
As the conflict in the Ukraine enters its second week, we in the cancer community are trying to work out how best we can help patients and their families ‒ those who remain and those who have fled to neighbouring…
Beating the odds in colorectal cancer
Stefan Gijssels beat the odds in colorectal cancer. Diagnosed with a cancer of the colon in 2015, a laparoscopic surgery intended to remove what was thought to be a locally contained tumour revealed something much nastier. The cancer had pierced…
Liver patient advocates to Europe’s cancer community: can we talk?
Europe’s Beating Cancer plan is galvanising the cancer community behind efforts to tackle rising trends that are currently on course for an almost 25% rise in deaths from cancer across Europe by 2035. We want to help. Liver cancer is…
Atlas provides ‘one-stop shop’ for myeloma care information across Europe
Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE) has launched an overview of myeloma and AL amyloidosis treatment inequalities across Europe. The Myeloma Access Atlas, released 19 October, is a platform which has been developed to provide a ‘one-stop’ shop mapping national availability of…
Our pathways: advocates provide roadmaps for patients, clinicians and managers
Patient advocates have a collective understanding of the patient pathway, from the first suspicious symptoms to the realities of life as a survivor, that is unrivalled by any professionals. They also understand better than anyone how valuable that knowledge and…
Stella Kyriakides: EU Commissioner for Health
When Stella Kyriakides took on the post of EU Health Commissioner in September 2019, Europe’s cancer community knew they could trust her to fight their cause. Within months she was launching a public consultation on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. Then…