3rd cancer plan: time to take stock

The 3rd cancer plan ran from 2014 to 2019. Launched by François Hollande in 2014, it was intended to reduce inequalities by prioritizing screening, equal access to care, research, life during and after the disease, and finally the fight against smoking. In its 6th and final annual report, the National Cancer Institute (INca) estimates that 90% of the set objectives have been achieved.

Cancer Today

3.8 million people are living with or after cancer. Despite a drop in the mortality rate between 2010 and 2018 (-0.7 % per year for women, -2 % per year for men), nearly 400,000 people learn each year that they have cancer and more than 157,000 die from it.

Many advances

The cancer plan has enabled real improvements. The final assessment of this 3rd plan was carried out by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS). The right to be forgotten (of the disease) now extends to consumer loans. In addition, a post-cancer package, guaranteeing a physical, nutritional and psychological activity assessment, is included in the 2020 Social Security financing law. The organized cervical cancer screening program has also been initiated and the quality of breast cancer screening has been strengthened. Finally, we will welcome the acceleration of access to innovative treatments and their coverage by Social Security, under strict conditions.

Anti-smoking campaign bears fruit

The report reveals that smoking has fallen by 12 % and that 1.6 million people have stopped smoking in the last two years: the observation is therefore encouraging. It therefore seems that the introduction of plain packaging, the increase in prices, the implementation in 2019 of the reimbursement of 84 nicotine substitutes and the anti-smoking policy have paid off. Nevertheless, INCa notes that smoking among women is on the rise and that social inequalities in the face of tobacco still exist.

And now ?

A ten-year strategy for the fight against cancer 2021-2031 should be proposed to the government at the end of the year to continue efforts. Starting on September 2, the French will be consulted for 4 weeks on 3 areas considered to be priorities: - improving prevention, - limiting after-effects and improving the quality of life of patients, - fighting cancers with poor prognoses in adults and children.