Each year, more than 35,000 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer and more than 6,000 young patients die of cancer.  Moreover, there will be nearly half a million childhood cancer survivors by 2020-2025.  Over two-thirds of these childhood cancer survivors experience long-term health and psychosocial problems due to their disease and treatment, which may be severe and affect their daily life and participation as EU citizens.

Up to 80% of the children diagnosed with cancer are cured with standard multidisciplinary care and current intensive treatments that have been developed and prospectively validated by the paediatric oncology community during the last 50 years.

SIOPE’s mission is to ensure the best possible care and outcome for all children and adolescents with cancer in Europe.  To achieve this goal, SIOPE addresses the main challenges faced by European paediatric oncology professionals through a multidisciplinary and pan-European perspective.

Through the integration of research, standards of care and education, SIOPE and the European community of health professionals address the two goals of the next decade: to increase the cure rate and the quality of cure for children and young people with cancer.

Strategic Plan

Paediatric cancer remains a major public health and societal issue in Europe. While improvements have been achieved for some childhood cancers over the past years, there has been little progress in patient survival for difficult-to-treat paediatric malignancies, and too many young lives are still lost to the disease.

Backed by the extensive endorsement of the European paediatric haematology-oncology community, the SIOPE Strategic Plan ‘A European Cancer Plan for Children and Adolescents’ was developed to increase the cure rate and the quality of long term survival of children and young people with cancer by 2025 [click here to view the SIOPE Strategic Plan in FlippingBook].

Strategic Plan Report

• Achievements 2016 – download the report
• Achievements 2017 – coming soon.

Areas of activity

• Research: aiming to facilitate the development of new drugs and treatments for children and adolescents with cancer, SIOPE supports strong and integrated research programmes from basic science to clinical research, serving as a common European platform for paediatric oncology clinical trials;
• Care: standards of care in paediatric oncology can differ substantially from country to country. SIOPE addresses the relevant organisational aspects to improve access to quality care and expertise across Europe;
• Education and Training: SIOPE is a hub for paediatric oncologists, health professionals and parent/patient advocates willing to be trained and kept updated about the newest treatments and therapies available;
• EU advocacy: to ensure that paediatric oncology remains at the top of the EU health and research policy agenda, effective, evidence-based policy activates must be carried out sharply and firmly. SIOPE monitors and acts to shape EU legislation and policies having important impact on the paediatric oncology community.