Governmental Affairs

CECOG`s Governmental Affairs initiative aims at the availability and access to state-of-the art diagnostics means and to cancer medications in Central and Southeastern Europe. The GOIA initiative has included a broad faculty consisting of oncologists, nursing specialists, patient advocates, members of the European Parliament, representatives of the IAEA and OECD and of Non Government Organisations.

CECOG has created a platform with the aim to reduce health inequalities and to improve patient access to cancer care. The subject of discussion is the value of new treatments to create willingness to invest in improving cancer outcomes while managing the budget. The platform includes various stakeholders as scientific leaders, policy makers, payers, patients and industry.

The origins of the GOIA initiative. Why was it created!

Cancer mortality varies widely across Europe, and survival depends on where you live. In particular, the inequality between countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe (CEE) and Western Europe (WE) is striking. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought existing inequalities into sharp focus, and the economic disruption it has caused threatens to deepen them.

How can we prevent this, and what is more, how can we drive lasting change towards equitable cancer care? Working within the frame of Europe’s “Beating Cancer” plan, the Central European Cooperative Oncology Group (CECOG) is running the “CEE Access to Cancer Care Program”.

Here, multisectoral experts have developed a Comprehensive Dashboard for CEE, comprising the whole pathway from prevention to survival by focusing on improved patients’ outcomes.