National Cancer Control Plan

Comprehensive systemic approaches are needed to address cancer, which is a major public health issue. In 2010, Slovenia adopted the first National Cancer Control Plan. A new document, for the period 2022–2026, will include issues set forward in the Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, which was adopted in 2021. The National Cancer Control Plan has three strategic goals: (1) to slow the increase in the incidence of cancer, (2) to improve survival, and (3) to improve the quality of life of cancer patients through comprehensive rehabilitation and palliative care and here we present achievements and indicate our future challenges. Prevention programmes for chronic non-communicable diseases and the introduction of national screening programs for cervical and colorectal cancer had significant impact on the incidence of preventable cancers. Of concern, however, is the rising trend of lung cancer in women. The survival of all cancer patients improved, more cancers were detected at an earlier stage and modern treatments are widely available. Our challenge in the future is to establish monitoring of quality of care by establishing clinical registries for the five most common cancers. To improve the quality of life of patients, a pilot project for breast cancer patients has been launched in the field of integrated rehabilitation in two regions. Its results will serve as a model for implementation in the whole country and also for other types of cancer. In the field of palliative care, we are facing many challenges that we are only slowly overcoming. Comprehensive rehabilitation and palliative care are certainly areas to which we need to pay more attention.