In Croatia, an average of 25,000 people are diagnosed with a malignant disease every year. This confirms that cancer mortality is among the highest in Europe, which is due to deficits in prevention and early detection as well as unequal access to healthcare, it was reported on Wednesday.

In Croatia, more than 22% of the population are daily smokers, compared to the EU average of 18%, it said at a meeting of the European Cancer Organisation (ECO), where the manifesto “Time to Accelerate: Together Against Cancer” was presented.

“Croatians diagnosed with lung cancer have only a 10 per cent chance of a five-year survival rate, compared to a 15 per cent chance for other Europeans. Although Croatia was the first European country to introduce a lung cancer screening programme, survival rates are below the norm,” it says.

Croatia is one of the few EU countries without a population-wide cervical cancer screening programme. The country also lags behind in colorectal cancer screening: only 25% of eligible citizens take part in the programme, significantly less than the 80% in other European countries.

Shortage of nurses and doctors

There are also only 748 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants in Croatia, compared to the European average of 879 per 100,000, and only 60 doctors per 100,000, compared to the European average of 78 for the same population.

The meeting was opened by Mike Morrissey, CEO of ECO, an organisation comprising 42 member states and 21 patient organisations.

Europe is united in the fight against malignant diseases, he said, recalling that “Time to Accelerate” is supported by national and European parliamentarians in the fight against cancer and by politicians regardless of their party affiliation.

This was confirmed by the Vice-President of the European Commission Dubravka Suica (HDZ) as well as her party colleagues, the Director of the Dr Andrija Stampar Public Health Institute, Branko Kolaric (SDP), and other participants of the meeting.

The meeting was organised in the run-up to the European elections, as one of the main priorities of the next European Parliament will be the systematic fight against cancer in Europe.