News

• The European Organisation Against Cancer has created a working group that aims to improve access to cancer prevention, diagnosis and care in rural and remote communities in Europe.
• More than 25% of the European population lives in rural and remote areas, where there are specific barriers to accessing healthcare.

More than a quarter of the European population lives in rural and remote areas, where access to healthcare can be limited by a lack of professionals, distances, limited availability of services, or certain economic and cultural barriers. In the case of cancer , these difficulties can affect the entire care process, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and survival.

To address these inequalities, the European Organisation Against Cancer (ECO) has created the   The Rural Health Workstream , a working group within its Inequalities Network and developed in partnership with the Lincoln Institute for Rural and Coastal Health , aims to bring together knowledge and experience to improve access to quality cancer care in rural and remote communities across Europe.

Cancer care conditioned by the territory

People living in rural areas may encounter obstacles that hinder their access to healthcare services. These include:

• The shortage of healthcare professionals.

• The greatest distances to care centers.

• The limited availability of certain services.

• Socioeconomic and cultural barriers .

A reality still largely absent from cancer policies

Although health inequalities have gained prominence on European agendas, the specific needs of rural and remote communities remain insufficiently reflected in many cancer-related initiatives.

The new working group starts precisely from this gap to strengthen collaboration between the fields of rural health and cancer care, connecting professionals, patients, administrations, researchers and civil society organizations.

Connecting knowledge, research, and policy

The rural health working group seeks to create a collaborative space to advance in different areas:

• Sharing knowledge, experiences and best practices.

• Expand the available evidence and identify research and action priorities.

• Develop consensus policy recommendations.

• Strengthen the connection between rural health policies and cancer policies at European and national levels.

In addition, the initiative is developing a collaborative platform to facilitate the exchange of perspectives, knowledge, and potential solutions.

An initiative open to participation

The working group is open to healthcare professionals, patient associations, public administrations, researchers, healthcare management officials and anyone interested.

Participation does not require a specific time commitment and allows you to learn about progress, connect with other stakeholders, and contribute to the development of new lines of action. As a first step, ECO is gathering input to identify research priorities regarding cancer inequalities in rural areas.