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Françoise Meunier: Key outcomes from the High-Level Conference on Ending Discrimination Against Cancer Survivors

Photo from Françoise Meunier/LinkedIn

Feb 27, 2024, 15:12

Françoise Meunier: Key outcomes from the High-Level Conference on Ending Discrimination Against Cancer Survivors

Françoise Meunier shared a post on LinkedIn:

“The resounding voices of determination at the High-Level Conference on Ending Discrimination Against Cancer Survivors, held last Thursday, were a powerful testament to the cancer community’s commitment to a more equitable and fair future for cancer survivors. You will find speeches, presentations and photos of the conference on my initiative’s website.

Key outcomes from the conference include:

The imperative need for the Right to be Forgotten: Participants stressed the importance of policies that ensure survivors are not judged based on their past medical history when continuing with their lives after beating cancer.

Ongoing Progress at the National Level: Eight EU Member States have enacted binding legal measures to combat financial discrimination against cancer survivors. Similar action needs to be taken by other Member states.

Call for EU-wide Action: Stakeholders urged the development of a harmonised legal framework at the European level to consistently protect survivors’ financial rights throughout the EU.

Call for the Formation of a Supporting Implementation Network: To facilitate the implementation of measures at the EU level, the creation of a network to share good practices would need to be created.

We now need to build on this momentum to support action throughout the EU and offer the protection from financial services that cancer survivors deserve. I won’t rest until cancer survivors are protected from unjustified financial discrimination.”

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Source: Françoise Meunier/LinkedIn

Françoise Meunier dedicated her professional life to improving the survival and QoL of cancer patients. Prof. Meunier served as Director-General of the European organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (1991-2015), where she remained active until 2018 as Director of Special Projects, being the driving force behind cancer survivorship activities. Since 2014, she has been pursuing activities on the Right to be Forgotten for cancer survivors, advocating for the creation of a harmonised legal framework to tackle discrimination against cancer survivors. Prior to joining the EORTC, Françoise Meunier was Head of Infectious Diseases Department at Institute Jules Bordet. Prof. Meunier was awarded the Belgian Laureate Prix Femmes d’Europe 2004-2005, conferred the title of Baroness by His Majesty, King Albert II of Belgium in 2007, received the Pezcoller Foundation award in 2009, became a Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences in 2011, joined the Scientific Committee of the Innovative Medicine Initiative of the European Union in 2012, received the ECCO Life time achievement award in 2013, awarded a Ben de Pauw Medal for her dedication to Medical Mycology in 2013, appointed council member of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine in 2014, appointed Chair of Accreditation Council of Oncology in Europe and Member of Alliance for Biomedical Research in Europe in 2015, and has been a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine since 2006.