Executive Summary
With cancer estimated to affect over a quarter of us during our lifetimes, SNE and MNI firmly support the advancements of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and its implementation measures aiming to improve quality of life, faster recovery and higher survival rates in cancer patients.
At the same time, given that cancer-related malnutrition may affect 1 in 3 cancer patients – causing detrimental consequences to sustain treatment and recovery from oncology treatment, as well as increasing costs of care – the specialised food and medical nutrition industry associations strongly recommend additional efforts to integrate nutritional care in the care pathway for cancer patients. Doing so would significantly improve health outcomes and, at the same time, save costs in Europe’s healthcare systems.
Despite the European Parliament’s acknowledgement of the problem and its recommendations for a path forward in January 2022, substantial progress remains to be made.
Therefore, we recommend the European Institutions and the Member States authorities to:
- Screen all cancer patients for disease-related malnutrition in a timely manner;
- Strengthen the education of health-care professionals on the importance of nutritional support and implement agreed medical societies’ guidelines across all care settings;
- Ensure multi-disciplinary teams of healthcare professionals include a nutritionist;
- Allow for equal access to and reimbursement of medical nutrition.