Romania-Serbia joint initiative against cancer in cross-border region: improved diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors (Q4298609)
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Project Q4298609 in Romania, Serbia
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Romania-Serbia joint initiative against cancer in cross-border region: improved diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors |
Project Q4298609 in Romania, Serbia |
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9,933,198.62 Euro
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11,686,116.02 Euro
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85.0 percent
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10 August 2017
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9 June 2022
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General Hospital Požarevac
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45°19'31.76"N, 21°52'51.13"E
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44°37'53.18"N, 21°11'13.38"E
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44°48'14.26"N, 20°27'44.78"E
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45°44'13.02"N, 21°14'26.84"E
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Common challenge of the programme area jointly tackled by the project: - Decline of population - the population in the border area on the Serbian territories declined by more than 10% in the last decade but the Romanian area is also losing population; - Serious aging of the population as a consequence of emigration and natural decline, especially in the rural areas; - Natural demographic trend is negative in most areas, with limited positive trends in Timiș county. Health is one of the strongest aspirations of today and is closely and inextricably linked to the concept of economic and social development. It is an inalienable right of all people and must be understood as "a complete welfare of physically, mentally and socially" and not just the absence of disease or infirmity. One of the common territorial challenges shared by the border region of ROM-SRB Programme area is the prevalence of cancer among the population as one of the leading causes of death, especially when we consider the aging of the population, which is an additional factor of high occurrence of malignant diseases. The most important issue is that mortality rates continue to increase in countries with limited resources and health infrastructure, including Romania and Serbia. According to WHO Global Health Observatory data repository for 2013, both countries have evidence-based national guidelines, protocols or standards for the management of major NCDs through a primary care approach, although an operational policy, strategy or action plan for cancer is only available in Romania. Screening at the primary healthcare level is available in Serbia for breast, cervical and colon cancer, but only for breast cancer in Romania. Nor Romania or Serbia have national population-based cancer registries in place. The financial cost of cancer is substantial, comprising direct (treatment, care and rehabilitation) and indirect (related to missed work) costs. The estimated cost of lost productivity due to premature cancer mortality in Europe in 2008 was €75 billion. Therefore, regional prioritization of efforts and cross-border cooperation are increasingly important in order to improve the limited surveillance systems and the treatment of cancer in low and middle income countries, such as Romania and Serbia. This project aims to tackle the challenge of better cancer diagnosis and treatment through improved medical research supported by cross-border networking, improved IT technologies, modernized hospital facilities and evidence-based policy development in healthcare. The overall objective of the project is to foster collaboration in the field of oncology between medical institutions on the two sides of the border in order to provide access to modern and efficient specific health care services for all oncologic patients resident in the Region, with the aim to improve their lifespan/survival/life expectancy and quality of life. The project is based on personalized medicine concept, which is widely accepted and used in developed countries but is still at an early stage in Romania and Serbia. It represents the state of the art in cancer diagnosis and treatment for countries like USA, UK and Germany, which are running even national programmes in the field. Even though the number of patients affected by malignant diseases had been continuously increasing in the last decades, healthcare development in the region couldn’t catch up with increasing treatment and diagnosis needs. Modernization of equipment, improved knowledge base and networking is needed in order to improve the treatment results for cancer patients. The project addresses all these needs and additionally to modernizing medical equipment and facilities, it includes the modernization of computer and communications hardware and software, as well as cross-border communication in order to share resources and knowledge base and complement the partners deficiencies. By establishing a cross-border partnership in the field of health care, by enabling access to medical expertise, on the design, development and deployment of a complete diagnostic software tool, which will help the oncologists choose a better therapeutic strategy for solid tumors (breast, pancreas, colon, and lungs) patients, the project significantly increases the chances for better cancer treatment in the region. Additionally, the project includes the policy development aspect with the aim to provide wider strategic results and improve the response to cancer treatment of healthcare systems in both countries. The successful implementation of project activities will result in improved medical expertise, modernized equipment capacities and improved human resources that enable more proficient and cost-efficient cancer treatment protocols, as well as evidence-based healthcare policies, which will consequently lead to greater economic and social development in the region. The main outputs of the project correspond to the three specific objectives: 1. (English)
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