2024 EU4Health Work Programme: Discover new projects working on cancer prevention and early detection

Many new projects funded under EU4Health 2024 calls for proposals have recently started. Supporting Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, 17 new projects will focus on cancer prevention and early detection. 

Cancer prevention 

The following projects will focus on increasing health literacy for cancer prevention, health interventions including the elimination of cancer caused by infections, as well as health risks of second-hand smoke and aerosols. 

• CURTAIN will promote health literacy to address disparities in cancer prevention and care linked to differences between urban and rural areas, Eastern and Western Europe, and social and economic conditions. 

• iNTERVENE will support and improve health literacy and reduce inequalities for cancer prevention and care in healthcare professionals, patients and citizens.
• CHOICE will raise awareness about the critical risks of breast cancer for women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and about the benefits of increased screening and preventive surgery options.
• The goal of BCLEAR is to improve health literacy related to bladder cancer in Europe, particularly in underrepresented regions.
• CLEAR-PC will address low health literacy in prostate cancer prevention and care and co-create a health literacy strategy for patients, health professionals, and organisations.  

• The Joint Action (JA) SHIELD will work on strategies for health interventions to eliminate cancers caused by infections, focusing on HPV, hepatitis virus (HBV and HCV), tuberculosis and HIV. It will work in synergy with five supporting projects:  

• PACE will reduce cancer burdens from human papillomavirus (HPV) and viral hepatitis in European carceral settings by integrating evidence-based, scalable interventions to increase vaccination, screening, and healthcare access for underserved populations.
• The HEP-HOP project will focus on overcoming barriers to viral hepatitis care and prevention for migrants and refugees in Europe by improving community-based screening, vaccination services for hepatitis B (HBV), and addressing vaccine hesitancy, through culturally adapted outreach and participatory research methods.
• HUMANCODE will improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations in Eastern Europe by boosting HPV vaccination rates through accessible and equitable healthcare interventions, training for health care professionals, and the implementation of innovative vaccination strategies.
• CROSS-LINK will enhance prevention, detection, and care of HIV, sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis among marginalised populations in Greece, Spain, and the Netherlands. It will do so through community-based services, stigma reduction initiatives, and training for healthcare professionals to improve accessibility and equity in healthcare.
• MOBHOPE will optimise mobile liver health services across Europe for vulnerable populations, focusing on viral hepatitis and liver disease, by conducting operational research and standardising delivery methods to improve healthcare access and surveillance in underserved regions.
• Joint Action SAFE will focus on health promotion and disease prevention including smoke- and aerosol-free environments while RELIEF, a supporting project, will apply an evidence-based approach to reduce exposure and use of emerging tobacco products among school children.  

Early detection 

The following projects will focus on early detection including the enhancement of cancer imaging and cancer screening initiatives. 

• UNICA, the Unified Network for International Cancer Advancement, will extend the European Cancer Imaging Initiative through the EUCAIM project by adding breast, lung, and prostate cancer screening imaging data to its federated infrastructure. 

• BreastSCan is also closely linked to the European Cancer Imaging Initiative through the EUCAIM project, contributing directly to Cancer Image Europe - the European platform for cancer imaging data. The project aims to create one of the largest and most diverse breast cancer imaging datasets ever compiled in Europe.
• As a result of EU-GAINS, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will develop European guidelines and perform preliminary work on quality assurance schemes for primary prevention of gastric cancer. IARC will also publish the third EU report on the status of implementation of the Council Recommendations on cancer screening.
• The project LAPIN, Lung cancer screening and Prevention Internationally, will focus on the correlation between tobacco exposure and lung cancer epidemiology and include other high-risk groups to produce a tool to forecast the burden of lung cancer, over time and by subgroup. The project will build on the lessons learnt from the action plans and best practices in Lung Cancer Screening both in the EU and in the US, to prevent redundancies. 

Background 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders from 2021 to 2027.