The Healthcare Academy of Serbia and Sweden will be held in Belgrade in early November, a first of its kind event organized by Business Sweden association under the patronage of the Ministry of Health of Serbia and the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade and supported by AstraZeneca
The Healthcare Academy marks the start of long-term collaboration between Serbia and Sweden that aims to foster exchanges of knowledge and expertise between healthcare professionals from the two countries.
This year’s Academy will focus on one of the most pressing health concerns in Europe: breast cancer.
Women in Serbia face a moderate risk of developing breast cancer, but a high risk of dying from it, as participation in screening is not at a satisfactory level and currently stands at just 11.6% of women aged between 50 and 69. The expectation is that this worrying statistic could be improved through collaboration between leading breast cancer experts from Sweden and Serbia.
Sweden achieves excellent results in the fight against breast cancer, with prevention being a central component of its breast cancer management model. Despite a significant number of new cases, the risk of dying from breast cancer is declining thanks to early detection through mammography screening programmes. In Sweden, one million women are invited for mammography screenings annually, covering around 95% of women aged 40-74.
These data suggest Serbia could make significant progress in reducing female mortality through the sharing of breast cancer treatment experiences with Swedish experts.
It is for this reason that the Healthcare Academy of Serbia and Sweden is being established, chaired by Dr Irma Fredriksson of the Management Group for the National Quality Register for Breast Cancer (NKBC) and a surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital. The Academy will also include Dr Niklas Loman, President of the Swedish Breast Cancer Group (SweBCG), Associate Professor at Lund University, Principal Investigator at the Lund University Cancer Centre, and Mrs Susanne Dieroff Hai, President of the Swedish Breast Cancer Association.
Sweden has proposed that the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia invites key healthcare policy experts from the Ministry of Health, representatives of the Republic Health Insurance Fund, the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia (IORS), the World Health Organisation, medical associations and patient organisations to participate and speak at the Academy.
At the beginning of October, Serbian Health Minister Dr Zlatibor Lončar met with Swedish Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Charlotte Sammelin. In their cordial discussion, it was emphasised that cooperation and exchanges of best practice from the healthcare sector are of mutual interest. It was highlighted in particular that exchanges of experience and knowledge between experts from Sweden and Serbia could reduce the rate of mortality from this deadly disease significantly.
Sweden’s bilateral commitment to fighting breast cancer is also reflected in the 2023 Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Serbia and AstraZeneca regarding the BIO4 campus project
The Minister gladly accepted the patronage and participation in the Healthcare Academy of Serbia and Sweden, which is a professional conference on the modalities of breast cancer control and prevention that will be held in Belgrade on 6th November.
Local experts will discuss breast cancer treatment in Serbia, while Swedish experts will talk about Sweden’s breast cancer strategy and its implementation. Working groups’ discussions will include Serbia’s national breast cancer strategy and the best practices of Swedish treatment methods. Additionally, topics such as prevention, screening for early disease detection, the national cancer strategy and mechanisms for empowering patients and caregivers will be addressed.
The forum aims to exchange best practices in two areas. The first area covers comprehensive policymaking and a breast cancer strategy for the sustainable long-term management of breast cancer, which suffer from an incohesive policy, insufficient budgets and a lack of staff and strategy – all of which are urgent issues that could create problems in staff retention and high-quality breast cancer management. The second area would focus on best practices in sustainable breast cancer care, where Serbia and Sweden can learn from each other, specifically in how countries with preventative and integrated breast cancer management are able to create healthcare systems that are sustainable long term.
A well-functioning national cancer and breast cancer management strategy is key to providing at-risk patients with life-saving care. By creating new international partnerships, we can shift from reactive sick care to proactive healthcare, building long-term and sustainable systems.
Also worth noting is that AstraZeneca recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Serbia regarding the BIO4 campus project. As part of this project, AstraZeneca will fund genetic testing for BRCA mutations in patients with early-stage breast cancer and implement AI screening for the early detection of lung cancer, both of which are projects of great importance to establishing an early diagnosis system for oncology patients.