Our international community met in Paris and virtually for the second World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum. We had the chance to hear from Sarah Collen, EU Policy Manager at the European Association of Urology,discussing the importance of building partnerships at both European and International levels and how policy initiatives such as Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, Horizon Europe and EU cancer mission are a call to action.
Alex Filicevas, Executive Director of the World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition, joined a panel discussion at The Economist’s 8th Annual World Cancer Series: Europe, which took place in person on November 8 – 9, 2022, in Brussels, Belgium.
The 8th World Cancer Series: Europe 2022 focused on ”innovation, equity and excellence”. It explored different strategies to accelerate innovation, reduce inequities across cancer control in Europe, and what could to done to build towards universally excellent cancer control and cancer outcomes across the continent.
On October 27-28, the WBCPC Executive Director joined the GO NORTE International GU Debates 2022 in Limpias, Spain. With over 100+ attendees from all over Spain and international experts, the event featured discussions on advances in Genitourinary cancers, challenges in care and approaches for better patient outcomes in bladder cancer, kidney cancer and prostate cancer.
Alex Filicevas presented in the session focused on the patient’s voice in bladder cancer. Addressing the audience,
The World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition joined for the first time the World Cancer Congress 2022. Organised in Geneva, Switzerland, by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the Congress welcomed 2000+ participants from over 120 countries for the first time since 2018.
The WBCPC delegation included President Dr Lydia Makaroff and Executive Director Alex Filicevas, focusing on connecting with patient advocates, civil society groups and cancer control leaders from around the world.
The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on the October 10, 2022 every year. This year’s theme, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, is “Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority”.
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has, and continues to take its toll on our mental health, the ability to reconnect through World Mental Health Day 2022 will provide us with an opportunity to re-kindle our efforts to protect and improve mental health.
The World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum brought our international community of patient groups together on September 8. The “Rising to the challenge – Examples from the patient community” session featured three projects from WBCPC member organisations in Australia, Canada and Italy. They showcased the diversity of incredible efforts of patient organisations to support people affected by bladder cancer and drive much-needed change locally. These included:
Urology week is a European initiative run by the European Association of Urology (EAU). The Urology week aims to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis by taking blood in urine seriously, as this is often the first indicator of bladder cancer.
Worldwide, over 570,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer. In Europe, the disease affects around 200,000 people each year, making it the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer.
Europe has some of the highest incidence rates of bladder cancer worldwide.
The second World Bladder Cancer Patient Forum brought together our community in Paris and virtually. This year’s Forum was a milestone event for our international community. Both because we got to get together for the first time in person and as we shared advance insights from our first bladder cancer patient and caregiver survey.
This year’s theme, ‘Taking bladder cancer patients’ voice forward’, was a stepping stone for action. The theme recognises the need for international multi-stakeholder collaboration to achieve common goal of improving the lives of people affected by bladder cancer no matter where they live in the world.
The European Cancer Summit, organised by the European Cancer Organisation (ECO) brings together leading oncology experts, experienced patient advocates, key opinion leaders, policymakers and politicians to discuss key issues in reducing the burden of cancer, saving, and improving the lives of patients and the public.
This year, the European Cancer Summit 2022 which will take place through November 16-17, 2022 in Brussels, Belgium will focus on the implementation of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Cancer Mission’s ambitions and recommendations,
The World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition co-developed the Bladder cancer session at the Patient Day of the European Association of Urology Congress 2022. The session was chaired by the WBCPC President, Dr Lydia Makaroff and Dr Eammon Rogers, Chair of the EAU Patient Information Office.
We were delighted to welcome patient advocates and our bladder cancer patient group community to the session. The EAU Patient Day Bladder Cancer session took place in-person for the first time.
For general information, information about membership or policy information, please contact the WBCPC Secretariat at info@worldbladdercancer.org
For general information, information about membership or policy information, please contact the WBCPC Secretariat at info@worldbladdercancer.org
