WP6 "Addressing Barriers and Enablers in Cancer Screening" kicked-off in Oslo

The inaugural meeting of the EUCanScreen project’s Work Package 6 (WP6) “Addressing Barriers and Enablers in Cancer Screening” was held in Oslo, Norway, on January 30th and 31st. The objective of the meeting is to evaluate the initial findings, enhance collaboration, and devise the subsequent actions necessary for the successful implementation of screening in Eastern and Central Europe.
The experiences and ideas of WP6 leaders, experts, researchers, and project collaborators are shared to identify and remove barriers to the implementation of organised cancer screening and maximise individual participation. A significant amount of consideration is given to ensuring that various immigrant groups in Europe receive the necessary information to effectively partake in cancer screening. The same applies to individuals with intellectual disabilities and the identification and removal of individual and systemic obstacles that impede their progress. A particular emphasis is placed on the surveillance of cervical and breast cancer in sexual minorities. The existing patient information materials are evaluated in terms of their quality and deficiencies. The working group formulates recommendations for the creation of evidence-based communication materials that effectively reduce screening barriers. This includes the dissemination of complex but critical health messages through video, easily comprehensible text, images, and infographics.

Piret Veerus, a researcher at the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit of the Estonian National Institute for Health Development, expressed his desire to establish a connection between the IT industry and screening specialists. She discussed the potential of artificial intelligence, which includes large-scale language models, to assist in the identification and surmounting of organisational obstacles in cancer screening programmes.