Villejuif (AFP)
Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday, presenting the ten-year strategy against cancer, wanting to strengthen prevention against tobacco and excess alcohol, even targeting a future "tobacco-free generation", in order to reduce the death toll from 150,000 by year to 100,000.
In the midst of the Covid pandemic, which has already killed 77,000, the Head of State announced a 20% increase in the resources deployed against a disease which remains the leading cause of death in men and the second in women.
The budget for the first 5 years of the ten-year plan will thus be increased to 1.7 billion euros for 2021-2025, he promised, before going to the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villejuif to meet caregivers and patients.
In this video speech at the Annual Meetings of the Institute of Cancer (INCa), on the occasion of World Cancer Day, the Head of State also promised more screening and an increased fight against the sequelae after healing.
"Go in a decade from 150,000 new preventable cancers per year to less than 100,000. Reduce the mortality of the seven most lethal cancers. Better support the consequences of cancers and treatments on quality of life and employment", announced The head of state.
Tobacco and alcohol are at the center of the strategy.
"I wish the generation that turns 20 in 2030 will be the first tobacco-free generation in recent history," he said, confirming a campaign pledge, and pledging to act on "the price, the extension of tobacco-free spaces, information campaigns on its toxicity ", and better support for those who quit smoking.
This mobilization must begin "from school".
For alcohol, at the origin of a fifth of preventable cancers, "it is not a question of going towards zero alcohol but of preventing excess and better helping those who are in a form of dependence on alcohol. get out of it ", he wished.
He thus promised, without precision, to give "in the image of what we have done for food, benchmarks that are both more visible and more readable to consumers on each product".
"Against these two main causes of preventable cancer, our actions will particularly target young people," he added.
He finally confirmed the objective of seven new "low emission zones" in large cities and certain valleys to improve air quality.
- "Avoidable cancers" -
In terms of prevention, the government and INCa aim to reduce the number of "preventable cancers" by 60,000 per year by 2040, out of a total of 153,000 - it is estimated that 40% of cancer cases could be avoided, because attributable to modifiable risk factors such as smoking, diet, UV exposure or sedentary lifestyle.
They also want to convince more French people to participate in the three organized screenings put in place: for breast cancer, colorectal cancer and, recently, the cervix.
Objective: "to carry out 1 million more screenings by 2025", against 9 million each year today.
There is room for improvement mainly for colorectal cancer screening, with only 30% participation, while "research" is being carried out to consider screening for other cancers, such as lung cancer.
The plan also wants to limit to a third the proportion of patients suffering from sequelae five years after their diagnosis (mutilating surgeries, side effects of drugs, developmental delays in children ...), against two thirds at present.
The last objective is to "significantly improve" the survival rate of cancers with a poor prognosis, that is to say those whose five-year survival rate is less than 33%, such as cancers of the pancreas or lungs. , certain so-called "triple negative" breast cancers or even a rare cancer, glioblastoma of the brainstem in children.
The 3rd cancer plan, which covered the period 2014-2019 and extended into 2020, "enabled major advances" in research, access to innovative therapies, treatment of pediatric cancers or even smoking prevention, but "singularly lacking in ambition in the fight against alcohol", responsible for 16,000 cancer deaths per year, pointed out the assessment report drawn up in October by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) and the IGESR (for the Ministries of Education, Sport and Research).
© 2021 AFP