Françoise Meunier, Vice President of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, and Founder of the European Initiative on Ending Discrimination Against Cancer Survivors, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“High-value cancer care extends beyond remission; it must actively protect cancer survivors from discrimination.
I am pleased to see the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) given real visibility in the latest OECD – OCDE report Delivering High Value Cancer Care: European Cancer Inequalities Registry Analytical Report.
Where it exists, RBTF delivers measurable impact: in France, reported difficulties in obtaining a loan fell from 65% in 2010 to 35% in 2022 after the introduction of RTBF legislation.
Still, In the European Union, no fewer than 18 countries remain without Right to Be Forgotten legislation, leaving EU citizens with unequal rights depending on where they live.
And even where RBTF is in place, protections are applied inconsistently.
Mandatory waiting periods still vary from 5 to 10 years depending on the country.
It is now essential to build on the momentum created by the EU Consumer Credit Directive but to push for a consistent 5-year timeline across Europe.
Among OECD countries, only Chile provides a binding Right to Be Forgotten framework to protect cancer survivors’ rights.
Cancer care is increasingly expanding to address the social and economic realities of cancer. Survivorship and the RTBF must be part of that shift, and binding legal frameworks must expand both in the EU and within OECD countries.
Link to the report.”
More posts featuring Françoise Meunier on OncoDaily.