VIENNA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Austrian Minister of Health Rudolf Anschober on Tuesday announced new approaches to improve cancer prevention and treatment on World Cancer Day.
"Around 400,000 people live in Austria with a cancer diagnosis. We want to and will handle this issue aggressively," Anschober told a press conference.
As one of the new approaches, each child suffering from cancer in Austria should receive a "survivorship passport" that bundles important information including diagnoses, therapies and individual follow-up recommendations.
A national cancer screening committee is also planned with Austrian company, Gesundheit Osterreich GmbH, to enhance early cancer detection, said the minister.
The future task of this committee, composed of around ten volunteer experts, would be to provide the minister with recommendations for the implementation of new screening programs, but also the development of existing programs based on evaluations.
A coordinated breast cancer screening program has been introduced in Austria since 2014.
"It currently covers 50 percent of women. The goal would be to reach at least 70 percent," said Paul Sevelda, president of the Austrian Cancer Aid.
