BSPHO welcomes the measures adopted for children with cancer under the new Cancer Plan

BSPHO welcomes the measures adopted for children with cancer under the new Cancer Plan

BSPHO welcomes the new Belgian Cancer Plan 2026-2036 which will help improve care pathways and treatment for children, adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer.

During the development of the plan, the Minister’s office consulted several organisations active in the sector, including BSPHO. This gave us the opportunity to contribute constructively to this process by proposing concrete measures in the interests of young patients.

The inclusion of the centralisation of care in the national Cancer Plan reflects the position expressed by BSPHO last May. It marks an important step towards putting this approach into practice, which BSPHO supported in the following terms: “Paediatric cancers are rare and complex diseases that call for a holistic care policy. It is widely demonstrated internationally that centralising care in highly specialised centres improves patient outcomes and long-term quality of life. We are proud of this result, which is the fruit of constructive collaboration with policymakers and BSPHO (the Belgian Society of Paediatric Haemato-Oncology, the Belgian scientific society of paediatric haemato-oncologists).”

Four measures advocated by BSPHO and KickCancer in their joint policy paper are now included in the national Cancer Plan:

• Centralisation of the organisation of oncology care, to bring together the expertise needed to care for young patients.
• Creation of a National Tumour Board to pool expertise and support treatment decisions.
• Wider access to genomic sequencing (DNA analysis of tumour samples) for children and AYA with high-risk cancer.
• Introduction of multidisciplinary long-term follow-up for survivors, to preserve their quality of life after recovery.

BSPHO looks forward to continuing its collaboration with all stakeholders to support the implementation of the new Cancer Plan.