Roughly 13,000 people in the Grand Duchy have cancer, and 3,000 individuals are diagnosed with a malignancy every year.
Fondation Cancer, a foundation based in Luxembourg, aims to engage and raise awareness amongst the population, not only acting as a centre of expertise with practical consultations, but also offering support and advice to patients and their family and friends. Their message to patients: You are not alone.
More information on how to help out as a volunteer, support cancer research or get involved in any other way can be found on the website of Fondation Cancer. Each year, the foundation also organises Relais Pour La Vie, a 24-hour team run to raise money for research. This year's format is slightly different, but sign ups are still open.
To mark World Cancer Day, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa shared a message of hope.
With 4 billion euros, the European Commission is pumping more resources into prevention campaigns, better pre-trial access and new therapy options across EU countries. Far fewer people in eastern member states have access to preventive treatment, and as a consequence cancer is detected much later.
By 2030, the EU has targeted to eradicate cervical cancer, among other things. 90% of young women and significantly more men should be vaccinated against papillomavirus (HPV) in this context. The focus also lies on lung cancer (thus tobacco) and liver cancer (alcohol consumption). Major drastic changes would not be applied here, however, because wine and other alcohol would be part of the 'European lifestyle', the Commission said.
According to the institution, in 2020 in the EU around 2.7 million people will have had cancer, with 1.3 million people having died from it. Cancer is on the way to becoming the most common cause of death in the EU. Lung cancer is the most common fatal cancer; in women it is breast cancer. The corona pandemic would then also have negative repercussions on the treatments and care of patients, authorities said.
More information from the EU Commission here
