Sofia Pereira Sa was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2023 and underwent 20 courses of chemotherapy. She is still feeling some of the side effects, such as “chemo brain,” European Commission website reports.
Sofia recalls:
“All these side effects prevented me from being the mum I wanted to be for my one and half-year-old son. I couldn’t play with him, I couldn’t bathe him, I couldn’t take him to school. This was the hardest part of the whole treatment. It was heartbreaking.”
Sofia’s story is all too common and is a reminder that the disease affects us all.
World Cancer Day on February 4 calls for cancer prevention worldwide and mobilises efforts to fight cancer. According to the European Commission’s Country Cancer 2025 reports for EU countries, Norway and Iceland, cancer survival rates in the EU increased by 12 %. However, cancer prevalence has increased by 24 %, and cancer inequalities persist across the EU.
The reports note that about half of cancer cases are caused by the four main types of cancer:colorectal, lung, prostate and breast. The authors also note some improvements in a number of cancer risk factors in EU countries, including areduction insmoking ratesand a generalreduction in alcohol consumption. However, overweight and obesity remain a growing problem: more than half of adults in the EU are overweight.
EU launches European Commission’s Breast Cancer Initiative
The EU is actively engaged in the fight against this disease. In 2021, the European Cancer Plan was launched. As part of this plan, a number of key initiatives have been developed to improve prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for cancer patients and survivors in the EU.
One of these initiatives, the European Commission’s Breast Cancer Initiative, published the first official version of the European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services in the run-up to World Cancer Day. The scheme defines a set of quality requirements for breast cancer services covering screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up in the EU.
On World Cancer Day, Commissioner Várhelyi is holding his first youth policy dialogue with 30 young cancer survivors and young cancer professionals. The dialogue will give participants the opportunity to share their views on EU health policies and programmes and discuss how health policy can better serve cancer patients and survivors.
Meanwhile, Sofia is pinning her hopes on a new “superglue” developed by a research team funded under the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. The superglue not only helps the immune system fight cancer more effectively, but also minimises unwanted side effects.
