The European Partnership for Action Against Cancer (EPAAC) was launched in 2009, after the European Commission published its Communication on Action Against Cancer: European Partnership (download PDF). The specificity of the Partnership is that it brings together the efforts of different stakeholders into a joint response to prevent and control cancer.  In its initial phase, until early 2014, the work of the Partnership will be taken forward through a Joint Action (co-financed by the EU Health Programme). The National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia has assumed the role of leader of the EPAAC Joint Action, which encompasses 38 associated partners from across Europe and over 90 collaborating partners.

Following the proposed actions outlined by the Commission, the EPAAC Joint Action has set itself a broad range of goals across different areas of cancer prevention and control:  health promotion and cancer prevention, including screening, identification of best practice in cancer-related healthcare, the collection and analysis of comparable data and information and a coordinated approach to cancer research. The Joint Action should contribute to the long-term aim of reducing cancer incidence by 15% by 2020, and to the objective that all Member States have integrated cancer plans by the end of the Partnership.   Organisationally, the EPAAC Joint Action is made up of ten Work Packages, which correspond to ten different sets of actions.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE -  10 WORK PACKAGES

• WORK PACKAGE 1, COORDINATION (LED BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, SANDRA RADOŠ KRNEL)
• WORK PACKAGE 2, DISSEMINATION (LED BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, MATIC MEGLIČ)
• WORK PACKAGE 3, EVALUATION (LED BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH)
• WORK PACKAGE 4, OPEN FORUM (LED BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, TINA LIPUŠČEK)
• WORK PACKAGE 5, HEALTH PROMOTION AND PREVENTION (LED BY EUROPEAN CANCER LEAGUES, WENDY TSE YARED)
• WORK PACKAGE 6, SCREENING AND EARLY DETECTION (LED BY FINNISH CANCER SOCIETY, AHTI ANTTILLA)
• WORK PACKAGE 7, HEALTH CARE (LED BY CATALAN INSTITUTE OF ONCOLOGY, JOSEP BORRAS)
• WORK PACKAGE 8, RESEARCH (LED BY EUROPEAN CANCER ORGANISATION, INGRID VAN DEN NEUCKER)
• WORK PACKAGE 9, INFORMATION AND DATA (LED BY INSTITUTO NAZIONALE DEI TUMORI, MILENA SANT)
• WORK PACKAGE 10, NATIONAL CANCER PLANS (LED BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, SLOVENIA, TIT ALBREHT)

LEAD PARTNER & COORDINATOR:

National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

Associated Partners:

European Cancer Leagues • Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union • Belgian Ministry of Health • Vlaams Agentschap Zorg en Gezondheid • Finnish Cancer Registry / Finnish Cancer Society • French National Cancer Institute • ERI 3 INSERM "Cancer ˛Populations" • Centro Superior de Investigacion en Salud Publica, Valencia • Netherlands Standards Organization • European School of Oncology • European CanCer Organization • European Health Management Association • European Society for Paediatric Oncology • European Hospital and Healthcare Federation • European Society for clinical Nutrition and Metabolism • European Oncology Nursing Society • Irish Department of Health and Children • Irish Cancer Society • Italian Cancer League • Regione Toscana, General Direction Right to Health and Solidarity Policies, Italy • Fondazione IRCCS, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori • Istituto Superiore di Sanita • Alleanza Contro Il Cancro • Italian Ministry of Health • Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro • San Giovanni University Hospital Turin • Norwegian University of Science and Technology • Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care , Malta• Polish Ministry of Health • National Coordination for Oncological Diseases, High Commissariat of Health, MoH PT • Comprehensive Cancer Centre North East •   Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana • NHS Sefton • Catalan Institute of Oncology • Instituto de Salud Carlos III • Ministry of Health and Social Policy and Equality, Spain