Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP) promotes an integrated, multi-stakeholder approach to address cancer across its full continuum—focusing on prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life. Under the quality of life pillar, the EBCP aims not only to ensure that cancer patients survive their illness, but that they live long, fulfilling lives, free from discrimination and unfair obstacles.
Open Evidence, in partnership with PwC EU services and Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (INT), will be conducting a Study on the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors for the European Commission (HaDEA and DG SANTE). The overall aim of this study is to better understand how to measure, monitor and improve the management of cancer patients’ and survivors’ Quality of Life (QoL) in a systemic way, using objective indicators and data gathered from public and private, international, national, and sub-national sources. This two-year study will involve a wide range of data collection activities including a literature review on key definitions, desk research and data analysis at national level, consultations with stakeholders through interviews, surveys and focus groups, and a validation workshop. The study activities will include identifying relevant parameters and factors to measure review cancer patients and survivors’ QoL, reviewing the availability of data across Member States, compiling a set of common indicators and collecting data on these indicators across Member States, assessing inequalities on cancer QoL across countries and providing recommendations.
This study is an opportunity to continue the work on cancer carried out by Open Evidence and PwC through the previous Study on mapping and evaluating the implementation of the EBCP. Ultimately, the Commission aims to integrate the set of indicators developed under this new study into the European Cancer Inequalities Registry, which provides cross-country longitudinal data on different indicators along the cancer pathway.