On Wednesday, February 19th, All.Can Spain together with the Basque Health Service, Osakidetza, held a key conference at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, focusing on the implementation of the latest EU recommendations on cancer screening.
This meeting reaffirms the Basque Country’s leadership in cancer screening in Spain, in a territory where cancer is the leading cause of death.
Early detection plays a crucial role in the fight against cancer. This is especially true in a year when cancer has become the leading cause of death in the Basque Country, responsible for 27% of all deaths. In 2024, 150,000 tumors were detected, with patients having an average age of 68 years.
Mrs. Maite Martinez, Osakidetzka’s Health Care Director, inaugurated the event which also featured the participation of the Director of Transformation, Planning and Digitalization in Health at the Department of Health, Mr. Gontzal Tamayo, among other prominent speakers from the Department of Health of Euskadi. Additionally, patients were represented by the Euskadi delegation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer.
The event was distributed among two roundtables and one individual lecture. The first one, New European Recommendations on Cancer Screenings: A Step Forward in Early Detection, included interventions from Ms. Isabel Mosquera Metcalfe, researcher in the Division of Early Detection, Prevention, and Infections at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the WHO, who was able to provide a European perspective on the advances in the fight against cancer. Dr. Rafael López, member of the Scientific Committee of All.Can Spain and head of the Oncology Department at the Santiago de Compostela University Hospital Complex, stated, “We must actively address cancer. Early detection has a crucial impact on the prognosis of the disease and the quality of life of the patient. Today, we have cutting-edge tools that open new pathways to make this possible in a swift and precise manner, and it is in our hands to take advantage of them.” Finally, Dr. Luis Bujanda, Professor of Medicine, researcher at the Biogipuzkoa Institute CIBERehd, and specialist in Gastroenterology at OSI Donostialdea, deepened about the key element for screenings implementation: the incorporation of strategies based on personal and family risk.
Next, in the lecture entitled Euskadi at the forefront of cancer screening programs, Mr. Gontzal Tamayo presented the innovative methodology followed for the elaboration of the Basque Country Comprehensive Oncological Plan (2025-2030), which is expected to be finally approved in the first half of 2025.
In the following roundtable, entitled Public health and the health care dimension of screening: two sides of the same coin, Dr. Isabel Portillo discussed the implementation, innovation, and research on screening programs in Euskadi, emphasizing the lessons learned and challenges related to breast, cervical, and colorectal screening programs, as well as the implementation of a prostate cancer screening pilot project, PRAISE-U. Portillo also presented the EUCanScreen Project, in which Euskadi participates in various work units.
Furthermore, Dr. Idalberto Pérez, representing the general management of Osakidetza, provided an overview of the healthcare perspective on screening programs. He stressed the importance of proper planning and the availability of necessary resources to ensure the success of these prevention programs.
Additionally, he highlighted the new opportunities brought by emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and digital tools, which will help optimize early detection of oncological diseases.
Finally, the patient perspective was presented by Ms. Katty Nevado, Manager of the Cancer Association (AECC) in Guipúzkoa, who underscored the importance of obtaining high-quality data to assess cancer management and the outcomes achieved.
The event was an opportunity to understand the Euskadi’s great advances toward cancer care and the importance of screening as a tool for early diagnosis.