Norway contributes to new European initiative for improved cancer screening

In both Norway and across Europe, cancer takes many lives and affects people from all countries and social backgrounds. The disease has a significant impact on patients and their families, bringing physical, emotional, and financial burdens.

In many European countries, including Norway, screening programmes have been established for breast, cervical, and bowel cancer. Screening can be crucial for both prevention and early detection, which improves treatment outcomes and quality of life. 

- But how do we ensure that as many people as possible are diagnosed early, regardless of who they are, where they live, or what language they speak? How can we guarantee high-quality cancer screening for all Europeans? These are the key questions of EUCanScreen, a new Joint Action collaboration between 29 European countries, explains Mari Nygård of the Cancer Registry of Norway at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). 

She leads the Norwegian effort, and Norway plays a key role by coordinating and participating in several parts of the project. 

EUCanScreen is part of the EU’s health programme EU4Health, and aims to strengthen and harmonise cancer screening across Europe. 

- The project will improve existing screening programmes for breast, cervical and bowel cancer, and will also explore the implementation of new programmes for lung, prostate and gastric cancer, says Nygård. 

The initiative is structured into eleven work packages and will run until June 2028. 

Understanding and removing barriers to participation

The Cancer Registry leads work package 6 (WP6), which has an ambitious goal: to identify and remove barriers that prevent people from taking part in screening programmes.  

The work package is coordinated by Mari Nygård, who also heads the Research Department at the Cancer Registry. 

WP6 covers eight thematic areas, exploring everything from system-level challenges to individual and cultural barriers, and involves cooperation with 26 other countries. 

- A key part of this work package is to focus on communication, which is essential for effective screening and serves multiple purposes. This includes conveying the screening offer to target groups, and meeting the specific communication needs of vulnerable populations - a challenging yet necessary task, Nygård emphasises. 

She also points out that communication in screening isn’t just about getting people to attend - they must be supported throughout the entire screening process. 

- For instance, we see that clear and thorough communication is also important for those who receive abnormal screening results. The leadership of the screening programme must ensure consistent dialogue between participants and health professionals involved in the different stages, from sample collection to diagnosis and treatment, she says. In Task 6.4, Norway is working with nine countries to identify and reduce linguistic and cultural barriers within migrant communities. Targeted information is developed and tested in close dialogue with users to ensure that the screening messages reaches a broader audience. 

In Task 6.8, Norway plays a central role in gathering and systematising knowledge from across the work package. The result will be a digital toolkit designed to help European countries identify and address participation barriers and tailor their communication. Norway is also producing a series of short films showcasing practical measures and how these can be adapted and applied to national screening programmes. 

Developing European training in cervical screening 

Norway also leads a subproject focused on training and capacity-building in colposcopy for gynaecologists in Europe (Task 11.5).  

- The aim is to improve the quality of care for women with abnormal cell samples. We hope to achieve this through tailored frameworks and training programs for gynecologists who treat precursors to cervical cancer, says Ameli Tropé. 

She leads this subproject and is also head of the Norwegian Cervical Cancer Screening Programme. The work is being carried out in collaboration with professional communities in six other countries. 

Broad Norwegian involvement 

In addition to leading key tasks, Norway is involved in several other areas of EUCanScreen. 

The Cancer Registry and NIPH contribute legal expertise on data protection, guidance on ethical issues related to the sharing health data, and experience in user involvement and communication from the national screening programmes. 

- Through this work, Norway is actively contributing to shaping the future of cancer screening in Europe, while also strengthening our own national preparedness and expertise, says Mari Nygård.