Proiecte

Project summary

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan aims to better utilize data and digital technologies in the quest to understand and reduce the burden of cancer. The European Knowledge Center on Cancer including the European Cancer Information System (ECIS) is a key initiative. Aggregated cancer data in ECIS are essential to monitor and understand cancer trends, but also to support cancer policy and research. The data must be population-based, of high quality, comparable across countries, and recent. Such data are provided by the cancer registries within the European Network of Cancer Registries. However, there is great variety in the quality, completeness, breadth and timeliness of the population-based cancer registry (PBCR) data across Europe. CancerWatch JA aims to address cancer registry quality and timeliness and make the data-driven insights available via the ECIS as well as the emerging European Health Data Space infrastructure. The European Cancer Inequalities Registry will also benefit from better registry data. This Joint Action will be identifying opportunities to improve operation of the registries and their means to utilize digital methods to capture cancer data residing in the healthcare organizations. It will address harmonized means to measure quality and facilitate data access and finally, it will provide means to provide indicators on the burden of cancer via the ECIS.

To defeat cancer, we need more than just medicine; we need the right information at the right time. Currently, cancer data across Europe is like a giant puzzle with missing or outdated pieces. CancerWatch is the missing link, ensuring that every country provides high-quality, up-to-date data so we can see the full picture of the cancer burden in Europe and act faster to save lives.

In partnership with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), CancerWatch transforms how Europe tracks the disease by:

• Modernizing Data Collection: Moving away from slow, manual processes toward smart, digital methods within healthcare systems.
• Closing the Quality Gap: Creating a unified “gold standard” for cancer registries so that data is comparable and reliable, no matter where it’s from.
• Speeding Up Insights: Reducing the time it takes for new cancer statistics to reach the public and policymakers.
• Building a Digital Future: Integrating this data into the European Cancer Information System (ECIS) and the emerging European Health Data Space.

IOCN in CancerWatch JA is the Competent Authority for Romania, with the support of National Institute of Public Health, as Affiliated Entity.  IOCN plays a pivotal role being involved in all seven Work Packages, IOCN’s Cancer Registry having substantial involvement in similar activities within other European projects. The overall objectives of this JA are guided by the need to monitor and manage the burden of cancer using relevant and comparable cancer statistics based on population-based data. Timely and high-quality insights into the burden of cancer allow us to monitor the impact of the EBCP, identify inequalities in diagnoses, care and outcomes across Europe and therefore guide data-driven interventions in cancer control. As an ENCR member, IOCN’s CancerRegistry is highly interested in the progress and outrputs of each Workpackage from CancerWatch JA, in order to improve in the future the quality of cancer surveillance in our region and country.

Official website: https://cancerwatch.eu/cancerwatch/