Today, to mark European Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Digestive Cancers Europe is launching two ambitious campaigns: firstly a European campaign to help raise awareness of colorectal cancer and secondly a four-country pilot campaign to attract people living with colorectal cancer to the services of its patient organisations, at national level.

The European awareness campaign includes a social media toolkit. For those who would like to be involved please use it as best you can to help spread the word!

This toolkit goes hand-in-hand with the launching of our Roadmap for the Prevention and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer in Europe. The Roadmap was officially launched at our European ECCAM 2021 event on Friday, February 26. The event included the participation of delegates from the European Commission and the European Parliament.

National Campaign to Support as Many Patients as Possible

Along with this initiative, the national campaign has been launched. It is designed to make people with colorectal and other digestive cancers aware of the support available from local patient organisations – and this especially through the taxing times of the Covid-19 pandemic. To begin we are piloting the campaign in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain with further roll out to follow after an evaluation period. Below our campaign compilation video or find out more about the national pilot campaign.

About Colorectal Cancer

Every year, 500,000 citizens in Europe are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 250,000 of them die. Patients who are diagnosed early (stage I), have a 90% chance of survival as compared to only 10% when diagnosed in stage IV. Despite the fact that colorectal cancer evolves slowly, over a period of eight to ten years, the majority of patients are still diagnosed in the late stages III & IV.

Along with their work supporting patients through strengthening the capacity of local organisations, Digestive Cancers Europe actively advocate on a European level for the following in CRC:

1. Every citizen between 50 and 74 years old should get screened with the latest type of test

• All citizens should be aware of their family history of colorectal cancer and be tested in a timely manner. All family generalist doctors (GPs) should be aware of their patients’ family history and if colorectal cancer is present, to have patients tested in time 

• Only Comprehensive Cancer Networks meeting the Essential Requirements of Quality Cancer Care in Colorectal Cancer should be allowed to treat colorectal cancer patients

• All citizens who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer should be directed to a dedicated colorectal cancer patient organisation

• All colorectal cancer patients should have access to their Electronic Health Records 

• All colorectal cancer patients are entitled to the ten rights in the European Code of Cancer Practice.

Would you like more information? Please contact us.