Raising awareness
of the benefits
of radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is undervalued and needs greater investment, according to our new published report. Entitled Radiotherapy: seizing the opportunity in cancer care, the white paper recommends a five-point plan to boost uptake of radiotherapy and calls on all stakeholders – governments and policymakers, healthcare professionals, patients and professional societies, along with national and international research funds – to become ‘radiotherapy ambassadors’ to help raise awareness of the benefits of radiotherapy and secure its valuable position in comprehensive, optimal cancer care.
The report’s authors cite shortages of high-quality equipment, variations in training, insufficient integration of radiotherapy into treatment plans, lack of investment in research, lack of general understanding of radiotherapy as a cancer treatment and misconceptions regarding the safety of radiotherapy among the important factors contributing to radiotherapy’s poor image and underuse.
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A few facts about radiotherapy
SAVES LIVES
NOT INVASIVE
IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE
Policy Forum
Radiation oncology is an important element of cancer care. Research has demonstrated the significant gap between the current numbers of cancer patients opting for radiation therapy and the optimum. There is a need to engage with the public and policymakers to raise the profile of radiotherapy, which is why the Marie Curie Legacy Campaign was established. The new white paper has identified what needs to be done, and a multi-stakeholder approach is now crucial to identify potential barriers to implementing the required policy change.
The ESTRO Vision – enhancing the need to work together to achieve optimal care – calls on all stakeholders to help position radiotherapy appropriately within cancer policies and models of care, for the benefit of cancer patients today and tomorrow.
On behalf of the radiotherapy community, the Marie Curie Legacy Campaign will host a policy forum to present a five-point plan to help close the gap in availability and utilisation of radiotherapy across Europe, and outline activities underpinning the ESTRO vision.
This event will kindly be hosted by Lieve Wierinck MEP on
31st of January 2019 at the European Parliament in:
The aim of the Policy Forum is to channel awareness of the advocacy messages from the white paper towards decision-makers and empower them to make informed health policy decisions.
Our latest tweets
State-of-the-art radiotherapy can precisely match the shape of the tumour it is targeting – minimising damage to nearby healthy organs and tissue. #RadiotherapySavesLives bit.ly/MC-Legacy pic.twitter.com/wMddhyXZQl
