Setting the agenda in Women's Health
European Week against Cancer 2011
European Week against Cancer
Stop Cancer before it Starts – Health alert for women!
24 May 2011 European Parliament Brussels – In support of the European Week against Cancer, which is currently rolling out across Europe, a group of women MEPs highlighted important steps that women can take right now to stop two cancers before they start: lung cancer and cervical cancer.
All of us dread cancer. With one in three Europeans diagnosed with its various forms, it can strike anyone of us, our family, friends, neighbours or colleagues at random. Cancer is still a major killer in Europe. Yet many of us are unaware that some cancers can be prevented. WHO says up to 40 %. Much depends on us, how well we are informed what we are about prevention measures and if we are willing to change our lifestyle. The European Week Against Cancer encourages people to make lifestyle changes and take appropriate prevention measures as outlined in the European Cancer Code. For this reason we organized a European Parliament Roundtable in collaboration with the European Institute of Women’s Health, entitled “Stop cancer before it starts”. We specifically wanted to focus on two cancers in women – lung cancer and cervical cancer. Two cancers that can be prevented if women take action now.
Smoking kills
The first important step is for women to stop smoking and young girls to resist taking up smoking. Why? Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Europe for both women and men. Lung cancer used to be rare in women, but it is now catching up with them. Disastrously, during the last decades, more and more women have taken up smoking. In some EU countries girls now outnumber boys with grave consequences for their future health. Lung cancer kills. When young women take up smoking they seem to get tied more quickly into the habit than men and have more difficulty quitting. Women believe that if they stop smoking they will gain weight. This is exploited by tobacco companies’ marketing strategies. Additionally, smoking increases the risk for female-specific cancers, compromises pregnancy and reproductive health as well as being a major risk factor for most other chronic diseases.
“Smoking is harmful for anyone, but in women it is disastrous. Not only can it destroy their own health but moreover it endangers that of their children. Tobacco companies are specifically targeting young girls to take up smoking which unfortunately seems to lock them into addiction. This is why we are keen that the Commission is revising the Tobacco Products Directive. We must ensure that we strengthen Europe’s anti-tobacco legislation with powerful warning labels, stricter control of ingredients that may be addictive, and take into consideration the gender-aspect more effectively to counteract the promotional activities of the tobacco industry’s,” said Irish MEP Nessa Childers, co-chair of the Roundtable.
Stop cervical cancer - tackling health inequality
Cervical cancer is a disease that can easily be prevented. Yet it still kills far too many women worldwide. This cancer strikes mainly women in their 30s and 40s, a time when many are bringing up young families or concentrating on their careers and enjoying busy lives. Cervical cancer puts a huge personal and emotional burden on women, their families and friends, as well as placing considerable medical and economic costs on society.
It is estimated that in 2004 some 31.000 women in the EU, then 25 member countries, developed cervical cancer and almost 14.000 died from the disease, making it the sixth or seventh most common cancer in the EU.
The good news is that European women can now benefit from significant advances in the fight against cervical cancer through effective, comprehensive prevention strategies. Organised, population-based screening programmes as recommended by the Council Recommendation on Cancer Screening of 2003 and new prevention tools such as the HPV vaccines for adolescent girls and HPV screening, provide a unique opportunity to tackle cervical cancer much more forcefully. Yet not all European women are benefitting from these public health tools and best practice of cervical cancer prevention. This cancer remains a major cause of death for women in CEE countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and also the Baltic States.
MEP Sirpa Pietikaeinen explained: “In my own country, Finland, women have the lowest cervical cancer incidence and death rates in Europe; however our neighbour, Lithuania, is struggling with one of the highest rates. Health inequalities such as these are worrying us in the European Parliament. We recently adopted a report and resolution on health inequalities. With the current economic down-turn, we very much fear that the financial resources needed for organized prevention programmes will not be available or cut. We have to be vigilant.”
Welcoming the European Week against Cancer
Roundtable speakers and delegates warmly welcomed the European Partnership – Action against Cancer of which one strategic pillar focuses on prevention. The European Week Against Cancer, an initiative of the Partnership led by ECL, is a unique opportunity to highlight across Europe that investing in cervical cancer prevention and saying NO to smoking is saving many women’s lives.
“We have the knowledge to stop these two cancers from starting in the first place. But we need to share best practice in prevention much more forcefully and apply know-how consistently and equitably in Europe”, said Hildrun Sundseth, Board Member of the European Institute of Women’s Health. Peggy Maguire, Director General of the Institute added “Women’s groups and health NGOs such ours must join forces with politicians to spread the prevention message to all who need to know and encourage sustainable investment into screening programmes. Importantly, we must pay specific attention that hard to reach women are included in prevention programmes”.
For more information:
Nessa Childers, MEP
Tel: 32.2.284 7535
Sirpa Pietikaeinen, MEP
Tel: 32.2.284 7264
European Institute of Women’s Health
Dublin, Ireland
Tel: 353 1 671 5691
GSM: 32 473 983 164