In the run up to the 2019 European Elections, SIOP Europe and CCI Europe presented our Manifesto “Beating childhood cancer: Cure more and cure better – Towards zero deaths and zero late effects” asking the next European Parliament to sustain and reinforce its support for the paediatric cancer cause.  Equal access to the best available care and research for all patients across Europe is a fundamental pillar of this agenda.

SIOP Europe policy agenda for paediatric cancer has gathered substantial support in successive European Election Manifestos.  This latest manifesto, which was launched on 6 March 2019, gives six key recommendations to the MEPs (read here SIOP Europe’s Policy Priorities for the years 2019-2024).  We are delighted to announce that 31 European Members of Parliament (MEPs) have already endorsed our Manifesto in addition to 100+ organisations and 1000+ individuals.  Together with all our partners, including CCI Europe and PanCare, we are committed to working with the incoming European legislators to meet the challenges that greatly impact children and adolescent cancer patients and survivors’ lives.

We are also delighted to share that with the announcement of a mission area dedicated to cancer under the EU Framework Programme ‘Horizon Europe’. There is now cause for optimism for the future of cancer research in Europe.   The incoming President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen recently highlighted plans for a European plan to fight cancer and dedicated members of the newly constituted European Parliament are ready for further engagement in the fight against the disease.

SIOP Europe’s first Annual Report was launched on 22 May 2019.  This report highlights SIOP Europe’s achievements over the past year (2018) in support of our vision and mission for the next decade: to increase the cure rate and the quality of cure of children with cancer.

In our journey to cure childhood cancer through collaboration, advocacy, research, education and communication, we have made substantial progress since SIOP Europe was established in 1998.  As this report shows, 2018 was an extraordinary year for SIOP Europe, and one marked by a key milestone – celebrating 20 years of activity and progress in paediatric haemato-oncology in Europe.

Powered by the enthusiastic and committed efforts of our 1862 members from 35 European countries, and guided by numerous key influencers in paediatric oncology and haematology, SIOP Europe will continue to transform knowledge into innovative practice.

Download and read the SIOP Europe Annual Report 2018 (PDF).

The first SIOP Europe Annual Meeting took place on 20-25 May 2019 in Prague and was truly successful.  The meeting surpassed expectations in terms of attendance with over 1400 participants from 65 countries. Importantly, CCI Europe integrated their 10^th CCI Europe Conference within the SIOP Europe Annual Meeting. The wide-ranging participants included scientists, clinicians, researchers, young experts, parents, patients, survivors, policymakers and healthcare professionals with diverse interests and expertise to promote the best possible care and outcomes for all children and adolescents with cancer in Europe.

The meeting comprised novel session formats, interactive workshops and forums empowering the European clinical trials groups to debate and disseminate the outcomes of the high quality clinical and basic research carried out in Europe.  An innovative focus was on direct interaction between diverse tumour and clinical trial groups, parent groups, and survivors, which was exemplified in the Joint Sessions and the multi-stakeholder discussions on important cross-tumour topics. This included reviewing how SIOP Europe is delivering on its Strategic Plan for children and young people with cancer; the EU initiative for a European Reference Network for paediatric oncology (ERN PaedCan); the Joint Action on Rare Cancers (JARC) Essential Medicines project and the recently published recommendations for the organisation of care in paediatric radiation oncology across Europe.

For further information about the Annual Meeting, please read the press release and browse the photos here.

Four new official SIOP Europe Working Groups were presented and launched at the SIOP Europe Annual Meeting in Prague:

• Young SIOPE;
• SIOP Europe Radiation Oncology Working Group;
• SIOP Europe AYA Committee;
• Host Genome Working Group.

These Working Groups are mainly dedicated to research and education.  The groups will also contribute in the preparation of meetings in their specific areas of expertise, organise research in their specialty, disseminate scientific knowledge, produce position papers and guidelines, and are preparing an enticing programme for the SIOP Europe Annual Meeting in Valencia 2020.

Further information about the working groups: www.siope.eu/activities/groups

The preliminary programme for the 8^th ACCELERATE Paediatric Oncology Conference will become available shortly and registration will open soon after.

Symbolising the re-organisation of the ACCELERATE platform in order to strengthen international cooperation, we are pleased to announce that a new website domain name has been acquired (www.accelerate-platform.org).

You may join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #ACCELERATEplatform.