Action grants boosting cancer prevention through the use of the European Code against Cancer and other concerted actions

EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACT
The expected results are:

(a) increased usability of ‘EU Mobile App for Cancer Prevention’ amongst the general population through training, piloting and promotion;

(b) the launch of a project to increase health literacy for cancer prevention and care.

The action aims to reduce individual cancer risks across the Union through the application of the European Code against Cancer recommendations.

Specific action-level indicators for reporting purposes

Applicants must include data on the following indicators in their regular reporting activities in case of award, and must be prepared to include additional specific indicators where needed:

Usability of the App:

- Number of downloads of the App (breakdown per country, gender and education/income level)

- Number of (online) training courses organised (breakdown per country and per target audience, such as school children, elderly, people at work, etc)

- Number of (online) promotional activities organised (breakdown per country)

- Estimated number of people reached (breakdown per country, gender and education/income level)

- Estimated number of people who indicate that the App has improved their knowledge changed their behaviour and lifestyle (breakdown per country, gender and education/income)

- Number of feedback from users (breakdown per country, gender and education/income level)

Health literacy project

- Number of best practices identified, collected and shared

- Estimated number of people reached (breakdown per country, gender and education/income level)

- Estimated number of people who indicate that the project has improved their knowledge and changed their behaviour and lifestyle (breakdown per country, gender and education/income).

- Number of cancer organisations and other stakeholders involved in the funded actions (breakdown per country)

- Number of (online) materials for enhancing health literacy produced and disseminated (breakdown per breakdown per country and target group)

- Number of hits for web-based information (breakdown per country)

- Number of targeted actions to specifically reach and involve vulnerable and disadvantaged population groups (breakdown per country and socio-economic group).

POLICY CONTEXT

About 40% of cancer cases in the Union are preventable. Prevention is also the most cost-efficient long-term cancer control strategy. It is estimated that the cancer burden could be reduced by up to 50% if scientific knowledge on causes of cancer could be translated into successful preventive actions, including through improving health literacy with the view to increasing access to understandable messages on prevention, including by hard-to-reach and marginalised groups of the population.

One of the policy objectives of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is to improve health literacy on cancer risks and determinants. Initiatives will be launched to give people the information and tools they need to make healthier choices. The European Code against Cancer, which was first published in 1987, has a long-standing tradition as a preventive tool aimed at reducing the burden of cancer by informing people on how to avoid or reduce carcinogenic exposures, adopt behaviours to reduce their cancer risk, or to participate in organised intervention programmes. The European Code against Cancer needs to be updated to take into account the latest scientific developments and to include new evidence-based recommendations to improve health literacy and to guide national health policies in cancer prevention.

Evidence demonstrates that the recommendations of the European Code against Cancer are only partially reaching the general population. Therefore, there is a need to improve its impact across the Union. To achieve this, there is a need for the appropriate tools and instruments to improve communication with the public and to make use of new communication tools, including taking into account a gender-sensitive approach. An ‘EU Mobile App for Cancer Prevention’ will be developed to extend the coverage of the European Code against Cancer, to help behavioural interventions through commitment devices and reminders, with the aim of empowering people to manage their own health. To ensure that the recommendations of the European Code against Cancer are understood and translated into practice, communication will be adapted according to the literacy level of the target population, as a low health literacy is one of the social determinants of health associated with cancer-related disparities.

This action supports the implementation of a Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan flagship initiative and implements the EU4Health Programme’s general objective of improving and fostering health in the Union (Article 3, point (a)) through the specific objectives defined in Article 4, points (a) and (j) of Regulation (EU) 2021/522.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this action is to improve access to and understanding of risk factors and health determinants to improve health outcomes for cancer.

SCOPE AND ACTIVITIES

Applicants shall target their proposal to one or both of the action strands (a, b) described below and indicate that clearly in the proposal.

a) to support the usability of the recommendations of the European Code against Cancer through the ‘EU Mobile App for Cancer Prevention’ by means of activities covering training, piloting and promotion amongst the general population. Support will include activities to provide relevant input for the design and development of the ‘EU Mobile App for Cancer Prevention’.

b) to support ‘Health Literacy for Cancer Prevention and Care’ by means of activities that develop and share best practices to strengthen health literacy in cancer prevention and care programmes, with a focus on disadvantaged groups. These activities will include the assessment of literacy on cancer prevention and will provide support for targeted actions to improve the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand health information to make informed decisions about cancer prevention. These targeted actions will be designed taking into consideration health literacy programs developed within healthcare systems and in the community, for instance, to reduce medical jargon and improve education using plain language, easy-to-understand written materials and teach-back, and also plain language written materials, including visuals to provide more culturally and linguistically appropriate health education and enhanced web-based information.