We call on Member States to implement the 2025 Political Declaration on NCDs to tackle the global cancer burden. This requires:

- Preventing the disease by implementing cancer screening and healthy living programmes, increasing minimum excise duty rates on tobacco products, establishing minimum taxes for ecigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches, and updating the minimum rate of excise duty for each product category annually (1).
- Ensuring high-quality of care for patients with cancer and continuity of care with robust referral systems from primary to secondary and tertiary healthcare services.
- Supporting carers through strengthening and investing in a sustainable global oncology workforce and reducing burnout among professionals (2).

(1) Feedback from ESMO on the proposal for revising the European Union’s (EU) Tobacco Taxation Directive. https://dam.esmo.org/image/upload/ESMO-Feedback-Tobacco-Taxation-Directi...
(2) ESMO Resilience Task Force recommendations to manage psychosocial risks, optimise well-being, and reduce burnout in oncology. Lim, K.H.J. et al. ESMO Open, Volume 9, Issue 10, 103634. DOI: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2024.103634
2)