Hellenic Cancer Federation – ELLOK shared a post on LinkedIn:
“ELLOK at the European Health Forum Gastein 2026
ELLOK was present across this year’s European Health Forum Gastein, engaging in discussions ranging from European competitiveness and health security to the future of EU health policy.
We joined sessions including ‘A Competitive Europe Starts with Health,’ and ‘Europe’s Health Security as Strategic Defence’. We contributed to ‘Maintaining Momentum in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: From Policy to Impact,’ a discussion on what Europe has built through the Beating Cancer Plan and the Cancer Mission, and what is needed to carry that momentum into implementation.
That discussion also brought prevention into focus, including the important role of the European Code Against Cancer, highlighted by former European Commissioner for Health Vytenis Andriukaitis.
From the patient perspective, one question sits at the heart of that transition: What does access actually mean in the life of someone with cancer?
Access is not only whether a specialist service exists. It is whether a person can reach it, navigate the system, complete the journey and receive the care they need without geography, infrastructure or practical circumstances becoming an additional burden.
This is particularly visible in Greece, where geography can make access challenging. But the issue goes beyond geography. It also concerns the capacity of health systems to organise care around people, adopt innovation and turn investment into something patients can actually experience.
ELLOK has seen this at close range through its work with regional and national partners, from mapping local cancer-care needs to addressing practical barriers faced by people who have to travel for treatment. The patient journey does not stop at the hospital door.
The same applies to innovation. For a patient, the journey from research and approval through diagnostics, reimbursement, infrastructure and trained professionals into everyday care needs to function as a whole. If one link is missing, innovation may exist without becoming accessible.
This is also where the Hellenic Cancer Mission Hub can add value: connecting European priorities with national and regional experience and creating opportunities for countries to share learning and adapt solutions to their own realities.
Thank you to MEP Vlad Voiculescu, Claudia Chiappa, Tit Albreht, Christina Dimopoulou, Dr. Martin Fensch, Norbert T. and Elisabetta Zanon for a rich and thoughtful discussion.
And thank you to the European Health Forum Gastein for bringing these conversations together.”
Other posts about ELLOK on OncoDaily.
