According to the World age-standardised (AS), mortality rate shows that there are 84.2 cancer deaths for every 100,000 females in the world and 120.8 cancer deaths for every 100,000 males. In other words, women cancer deaths account for 44% of all cancer deaths annually in the world (4.4 millions). Among the biological, social and economical specificities around cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, women face unique issues. Some of them are addressed in EU-funded initiatives: 

CURTAIN, a 3-year project co-funded by the EU4Health programme, aims to reduce cancer inequalities between Eastern and Western Europe, urban and rural areas, and vulnerable socio-economic groups. By focusing on cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and quality of life, CURTAIN will prioritise improving cancer health literacy as a key element in reducing inequalities and enhancing access to quality cancer prevention and care.

Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply health information. It plays a crucial role in cancer primary prevention and impact women’s health in specific and critical ways:

• Women with lower health literacy are more at risk of detecting cervical and breast cancers at critical stages as they may not understand the importance of HPV vaccination, attend mammography screenings, understand genetic risks, etc.
• Women often face complex healthcare journeys balancing reproductive, maternal, and preventive care. Low health literacy can make it harder to access screening programs, interpret medical information, or advocate for themselves during consultations
• Women are often the primary caregivers and health decision-makers for their families. Their level of health literacy influences not just their own prevention behaviours, but also those of their direct family members

Health literacy is crucial for women’s cancer prevention because it directly affects uptake of life-saving measures (HPV vaccination, cervical and breast cancer screening), reduces stigma and misconceptions, and empowers women to protect both their own health and that of their families.

MAYA is a 4-year project funded by the Horizon Europe Programme and aims to improve cardiovascular outcomes and overall quality of life of Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) cancer survivors by effectively managing modifiable risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, or diabetes. For this, MAYA partners are developing innovative digital tools specifically designed to address cardiotoxic-related late effects of cancer treatment.

Young women are specifically affected because treatments can disrupt fertility, hormones, and long-term health at a stage of life when reproductive, professional, and personal milestones are most relevant. The emotional and psychosocial weight of these late effects often adds to the physical burden. Besides, young women are also at elevated risk of cardiovascular late effects from cancer treatment, both because of the types of cancers they most often face (e.g., breast cancer requiring cardiotoxic therapies) and because of biological vulnerability (loss of estrogen, sex-specific cardiac sensitivity). This makes cardio-oncology follow-up especially important in female cancer survivors.

Global Health Connector is leading the communication, dissemination and sustainability efforts of CURTAIN and MAYA. 

Follow our work:

• Follow the CURTAIN project: curtain-project

• Follow the MAYA project: https://maya-horizon.eu/

          LinkedIn: maya-horizon-project