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The European Commission wants to allocate 4 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars) to combat cancer, it announced on Wednesday.

In its "Cancer Plan," which has been delayed by the pandemic, the commission proposes a focus on four areas: prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and improving the quality of life.
"In this plan we aim to prevent the preventable," European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides said on Wednesday.

The initiatives will be financed through the bloc's health, research and digitalization programmes, with 4 billion euros earmarked for the plan, the commission said. There is no concrete timeframe to implement the plan, though some targets are linked to specific years.

As part of preventive efforts, the commission aims to reduce alcohol consumption, environmental pollution and hazardous substances. As one of the most concrete goals, the European Union's executive body suggests aiming for reducing the number of smokers to below 5 per cent by 2040, as this is a major factor contributing to cancer. The number currently stands at 25 per cent, Kyriakides said.

As part of its detection strategy, the commission is pushing for EU countries to ensure that 90 per cent of people in risk categories are offered screening for breast cancer by 2025.
Screening percentages vary widely across the bloc.

The commission also wants to improve diagnosis and treatment by creating a network to link national cancer centres across the bloc to better share information.

EU health ministers are to discuss the plan before the end of June, the commission said.