The PEACHD European project is launched to improve cancer prevention in specific vulnerable groups in Europe

On 14 and 15 February, the kick-off meeting of the European Piloting European Action on Cancer Health Determinants (PEACHD) project was held in the government of Catalonia’s Salvany building, where 38 people from different European countries attended.

Cancer is responsible for almost a quarter of the annual deaths in Europe and it is estimated that it will continue to grow. In Europe, there are inequalities in cancer between different populations and the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups are disproportionately affected. To this must be added the fact that the demand for care exceeds the resources of the European health services, especially in countries that host more refugees, making large-scale prevention initiatives a priority to reduce cases, especially in more vulnerable groups. These facts stress the urgent need to implement effective and efficient prevention initiatives.

The PEACHD project will implement a programme based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) BRIEF manual to prevent cancer by addressing lifestyle-related risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, a sedentary lifestyle, an unhealthy diet and unprotected sun exposure. PEACHD will prioritise reaching and supporting the displaced Ukrainian populations and the less favoured socio-economic groups in Europe to tackle health inequalities.

The project will develop and evaluate face-to-face intervention protocols and digital tools to implement the prevention programme in the Czech Republic, Poland and Catalonia. One hundred and twenty primary care professionals, 20 social work professionals, 80 community health professionals and 100 health professionals from Ukraine will be trained. It is planned to serve 31,000 people who use primary care and 5,500 people displaced from Ukraine.

Coordinated by IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic Barcelona, the consortium is made up of six partners from four different countries: Karlova University (CUNI, Czechia), the Public Health Agency of Catalonia (ASPCAT), the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), the Institute for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (ICAD, Portugal) and the Medical University of Warsaw (MUW, Poland).

PEACHD is funded by the European Commission’s (EC) EU4Health (EU4H) programme, which aims to improve health in Europe with actions focused on preventing disease, reducing inequalities, digitally transforming healthcare systems and strengthening the healthcare system and the health workforce. The project will seek synergies and support Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EUCancerPlan) and the EC’s new ‘Joint Action’ to prevent non-communicable diseases (JA-PreventNCDs).

This work is produced under the Piloting European Action on Cancer Health Determinants (PEACHD) contract (grant agreement no. 101129260) with the European Commission’s Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). The information and any opinions expressed in this material solely reflect the opinions of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for how the information contained therein may be used.