Cancer in Europe
Cancer is the second most common cause of death in Europe. Health disparities exist in the incidence and mortality rates for all cancers within Europe, with better survival rates for every type of cancer in western Europe.
Higher cancer rates exist in central and eastern European (CEE) countries, especially for lung, stomach, intestinal and liver cancers as well as lymphomas and leukemias. For women, stomach and cervical cancer rates were higher in central and eastern European countries than in the EU overall. The incidence of cervical cancer, for example, is decreasing in western Europe, but the rates are still high in many parts of eastern Europe. Moreover, cancer is the leading cause of death for young and middle-aged women (20-64 years old) in CEE countries.
Inadequate health prevention measures, including delay in early diagnosis and use of innovative treatments and lack of quality care, may account for differences in survival. In addition, public education and awareness campaigns around cancer and its prevention are fragmented or relatively rare.
Many of these differences in rates also are the result of recognizable and potentially avoidable causes including tobacco, alcohol, dietary habits, pollution, hepatitis B, as well as inadequate screening, diagnosis and treatment.
Key Programs We Support:
Since 2007, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has directed grant making and partnership development to cancer disparities in CEE with programs focused in several areas, including enhancing psychosocial support for oncology patients and their families and expanding training and awareness for professional and lay health care workers. Through these programs, the Foundation and its partners seek to develop, pilot and evaluate innovations and sustainable improvements in the care provided to populations disproportionately affected by cancer, including the poor, ethnic minorities, and people living in rural communities with limited access to cancer services. In some instances, the innovation is a new aspect of care; in other instances, the innovation is a new means of scaling up care. To date the Foundation has made grants for projects in Romania, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.
In 2009, the Foundation is focusing on supporting innovative and sustainable projects that address and/or improve prevention, screening, disease education, and medical care of underserved populations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia. Of particular interest to the Foundation are operational research and interventions addressing: 1) training lay and professional health care providers and 2) developing community-based care and support to patients that drive gains in patient health outcomes and quality of life. The Foundation is currently accepting proposals for this initiative.
Support for Hungarian Hospice Helps Meet Psychosocial Needs of Cancer Patients
Cancer is a major problem in Hungary. The country has the highest rate of cancer deaths anywhere, and nearly half of all cancer patients there suffer from depression and anxiety symptoms. What’s more, the inability of many health professionals to communicate effectively with their patients often leads to delays in screening, diagnosis and treatment.
Family members and health care professionals who have access to Hungary’s Roma (gypsy) population will be the special focus of a three-part project by the Hungarian Hospice Foundation, which seeks to create a tutorial system to train psychosocial and health care professionals in cancer care, broadening the scope of existing programs.
In addition, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $100,000, one-year grant will help the Hospice Foundation organize a symposium for psycho-oncology professionals in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to share information and learn more about psychosocial support for cancer patients.
Czech Republic Program to Mitigate Cancer Stigma
Amelie, a leading voluntary cancer organization, focuses on community education about cancer, its treatments and prospects for survival. It also trains and mobilizes volunteers to provide emotional and practical support for patients in a community setting.
Public events, including a music festival and culture program, help raise funds and recruit volunteers, who undergo a three-day training program led by experts in oncology and psychology. Support is provided in hospitals, at home and through telephone-based services.
The initial phase for this project was launched in 2008. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s $31,000 grant is helping to further expand that effort. Other local cancer organizations, including Gaudia against Cancer, Alen and Fit Ilco, are collaborating with Amelie in this effort.
Psychosocial Care for Leukemia Patients in Czech Republic
Patients diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia suffer the distress, fear and grief of having a serious disease. About 30 percent experience clinically significant anxiety disorders and/or major depression. In addition to medical care, cancer patients benefit significantly from support groups and psychosocial therapy.
Diagnoza CML, a patient support group in the Czech Republic, will use a one-year, $30,000 grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to support leukemia patients in five regions around the country. Patients and their caregivers will have opportunities to meet other patients, hematologists and oncologists to learn more about treatment options and better understand their responses to treatment. They also will receive psychosocial support for what is a chronic disease for many, and learn how best to participate in their treatment as partners with their physicians.
While information can be found on the Internet, most patients in these regions don’t have access or would prefer talking directly to doctors and other patients to share information. The aim is to empower patients and allow them to share experiences with others in similar situations.
Support Services for Cancer Patients and Their Families to be Made Available in Czech Republic
Psychosocial support services are not regularly provided to cancer patients through the existing health care system in the Czech Republic. Psychologists are not readily available for patients or family members, who are often important sources of support during and after treatments.
Gaudia, a Czech Republic cancer patient advocacy group, has been awarded a $73,000 Bristol-Myers Squibb grant to create a community-based outpatient psychosocial support services program for cancer patients, their immediate families and other relatives.
By filling a gap in services provided by the health system, Gaudia aims to provide some 1,000 interventions for 200 patients and/or their relatives. Outcomes will be compared to a group of patients who do not have access to any psychosocial support.
Exploring Psychosocial Support for Cancer Patients Living Below the Poverty Line in Hungary
About 40 percent of cancer patients in Hungary require psychosocial support, especially at the time of diagnosis when the patient faces a wide range of emotional, physical and financial challenges. While access services for most cancer patients in Hungary remains inadequate, especially hard hit are the three million people who live below the poverty line.
Patients who are uneducated, have little money or who are unemployed are not aware of the psychosocial services that are be available.
With a $128,000, one-year Bristol-Myers Squibb grant, the Firebird Foundation will address three specific efforts: developing and administering a questionnaire at cancer centers across Hungary in order to develop a social support network for this target population; creating a training program for social workers at family care centers; and developing a five-day training program that would involve intensive cognitive and behavioral therapy for newly diagnosed cancer patients in a residential setting.
Also planned is a the creation of a mobile multidisciplinary team of oncologists, psychologists, priests and other specialists to travel to homes of patients, to offer family support and to staff a 24-hour phone support line.