About CCI Europe’s Pillars
The CCI Europe Pillars were set up in order to shape CCI Europe’s strategy and build the basis for a roadmap on CCI Europe’s present and future work. The pillars are organized as 5 main pillars, representing 5 areas CCI Europe is working on, and 4 transversal pillars.
Main pillars:
Urgent actions for efficacious, less toxic and innovative medication and treatments to improve the cure rate and reduce the long-term side effects are needed. A multidisciplinary approach between all stakeholders is a way to achieve progress and ensure proper care with an adjusted regulatory environment.
Patients’, parents’ and survivors’ voice in the field of research and innovation aims to contribute in the development of novel and better diagnostic and treatment tools in the childhood cancer area.
Read more about the Research & Innovation Pillar here.
There is a huge disparity in survival rates (20% less in Southern and Eastern Europe when compared to Northern and Western Europe) and significant long-term side-effects in many survivors across Europe. Most of these imbalances are due to the different treatment approaches, the organisation of care and availability of resources.
The aim of this pillar is to establish the same standards of care across Europe by providing all children and adolescents with cancer with the same access to diagnosis and treatment regimens, adequate monitoring of late effects, adequate facilities during treatment, continuous education of healthcare staff, access to psychosocial care and continuous involvement of parents in the treatment process.
Read more about the Diagnosis, Treatment & Care Pillar here.
In numerous countries all over Europe there is still a lack of continuous psychosocial care, which is why providing psychosocial support to families and also financial support to hospitals for psychosocial care is a key element of many childhood cancer organisations. CCI Europe brings the lack of psychosocial care (and funding thereof) to the European level, raising awareness for the importance of the psychosocial dimension within paediatric oncology. For CCI Europe psychosocial care is, alongside medical treatment, an integral part of care along the whole continuum in paediatric cancer.
Read more about the Psychosocial Care Pillar here.
Up to ⅔ to ¾ of childhood and adolescent cancer survivors are confronted with late-effects of their cancer and its treatment. These late-effects can affect the whole organism and psychosocial wellbeing. In addition, many survivors face socioeconomic discrimination due to their prior illness.
The mission of the Survivorship Pillar is to raise awareness about these pressing survivorship issues, to improve quality of survivorship by advocating for better and comprehensive education about late-effects, by supporting the development and implementation of follow-up care and by advocating against socioeconomic discrimination.
Read more about the Survivorship Pillar here.
The aim of this pillar is to maximise human resources within CCI Europe and engage all parent- and survivor-organisations at European level, as well as to ignite fruitful intercountry collaboration as an essential way of exchanging good practices and uniting patient representatives under a common umbrella. CCI Europe strives to continuously educate patient representatives and involve them in high-level projects, activities and decision-making processes, as well as through policy initiatives in close collaboration with healthcare professionals and other stakeholders. Thus, fostering a wide network of patient advocates, helps increasing CCI Europe’s impact on the childhood cancer field.
Read more about the Capacity Development Pillar here.
Transversal pillars:
European Affairs
The European Affairs Committee is monitoring and influencing policy initiatives of relevance to childhood cancer at the European level through systematic engagement with the EU officials (European Parliament, European Commission, Council of the EU), joint policy initiatives with strategic partners (e.g. SIOP Europe), and by mobilising its membership to participate in relevant EU policy activities to childhood cancer.
Download our poster here.
Communication
The Communication Committee of CCI Europe is set up to harmonize the communication about CCI Europe. It functions as an advisory group for supporting, developing, and sharing information about CCI Europe, along with the Communication Officer of CCI Europe.
What do we do:
– Plan and run campaigns
– Engage with our social media content (information, events and much more)
– Continuously work on improving CCI Europe visual identity
Download our poster here.
Long-Term Sustainability
The Long-Term Sustainability Committee investigates funding possibilities and financial partnerships, ensures sufficient human resources in the office, but also evaluates and further develops CCI Europe’s governance structure in collaboration with the CCI Europe Committee.
Download our poster here.
Ethics
The Ethics Committee of CCI Europe is set up to provide ethical advice regarding and monitor CCI Europe’s activities, collaborations and participation in projects.
Download our poster here.
Activities conducted within CCI Europe Pillars were co-funded by the European Union as a part of the Operating Grant 2022. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.