€730m fund starts new cancer battle
More research, more cancer specialists, better drugs and better care are the key aims of the plan by President Sarkozy
FRANCE is to spend €730 million over the next four years on a new battle against cancer, aiming to fund research and improve life for sufferers.
Although Mr Sarkozy singled out tobacco and alcohol as two of the major factors causing cancer he did not announce any new measures to cut down consumption other than the use of shock cancer pictures on the back of cigarette packets.
The new plan is a successor to the €600 million project launched by former president Jacques Chirac in 2003 and will run until 2013.
It includes the grouping of research centres to work together on clinical tests to develop new drugs; an increase in cancer specialists and especially radiographers, and a new study of environmental cancer risks. Testing regimes for breast and colon cancer will also be improved.
The plan will also introduce a personalised system of post-treatment care involving cancer care nurses and GPs to give necessary support.
Cancer survivors will also get access to a new system of loans and insurance.
Mr Sarkozy demanded improved cancer statistics as the latest government figures date from 2005 while those from the French Cancer Research Association (ARC) showed more than 346,000 cancer patients diagnosed in 2009 – with 147,000 sufferers dying during the year.
A new national day of physical activity is also to be launched.
