GGD services target cancer prevention at disadvantaged neighbourhoods
KWF invests €9 million in local projects on stopping smoking and HPV vaccination.
GGD services are working with KWF to target cancer prevention more effectively in neighbourhoods with major health inequalities. The programme focuses mainly on support with stopping smoking and increasing HPV vaccination uptake.
KWF Kankerbestrijding is allocating €9 million to the Kanker Lokaal op de Kaart 2 programme, known as KLOK2 for short. GGD services must assess in each region what barriers residents face and which approach is appropriate. This includes, for example, better signposting to help with stopping smoking, as well as information about and access to HPV vaccination.
According to KWF and GGD GHOR Nederland, an estimated one in three cases of cancer could be prevented nationally. This is a population estimate, not a prediction for an individual. Prevention can influence risks, but does not prevent all cancer and says nothing about the cause of an individual diagnosis.
The organisations are partly basing the regional focus on the Dutch Cancer Atlas produced by the Integraal Kankercentrum Nederland. The atlas compares the number of diagnoses in areas with what would be expected based on the national average. The data used concern diagnoses from 2011 through 2022 and have, among other things, been adjusted for age and sex.
The atlas shows differences between regions, but is not intended to establish residents’ personal risk. Within a single postcode area, people live in differing circumstances and have different lifestyles. Exposure, relocations, diagnostics, access to care and chance may also contribute to regional differences.
The programme chooses two specific points of intervention. According to the initiators, smoking is an important avoidable cause of cancer, while people in a less favourable socioeconomic position smoke more often on average and more often face barriers to stopping. In addition, HPV vaccination can significantly reduce the risk of cervical cancer, but vaccination uptake remains lower in some groups.
The neighbourhood-focused approach is therefore both a health and an equalities policy. The GGD services do not want to run the same campaign everywhere, but to work with municipalities, schools, health and welfare organisations. Whether the investment actually leads to fewer diagnoses will have to be assessed later; the announcement describes KLOK2’s approach and funding, not proven effects already achieved.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- KWF is funding local GGD projects with €9 million.
- The projects focus on smoking and HPV vaccination.
- The Cancer Atlas shows regional differences, but not individual risk.
Left
Arguments Prevention works better when it is suited to people’s circumstances. Additional efforts in neighbourhoods with health inequalities can help prevent income, education or the living environment from becoming more decisive for people’s health prospects.
Values Health as a public good, equal opportunities and solidarity.
Consequences Targeted investment can reduce health inequalities, but requires long-term funding and cooperation with local organisations.
Centre
Arguments Neighbourhood-focused work is defensible when the approach is based on data and evaluation. GGD services should be given room for tailored solutions, while its effects and reach remain verifiable.
Values Evidence-informed policy, efficiency and feasibility.
Consequences A phased approach can direct resources where the expected health gains are greatest without oversimplifying regional differences.
Right
Arguments The government should provide people with good information and access to prevention, but should not too quickly replace personal choices with public direction. Campaigns should remain proportionate and leave room for individual responsibility.
Values Personal freedom, responsibility and restrained government intervention.
Consequences Overly coercive prevention can provoke distrust; voluntary, practical support can instead increase reach.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
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The amounts, prevention themes and regional approach have been confirmed by KWF and GGD GHOR Nederland. The methodological limitations of the Cancer Atlas have been explicitly incorporated, so that regional figures are not presented as individual risk.
- confirmed KWF is investing €9 million in KLOK2. — KWF and GGD GHOR state this amount in their announcement. source
- confirmed The programme focuses on stopping smoking and HPV vaccination. — These two prevention themes appear in the project description. source
- confirmed An estimated one in three cases of cancer could be prevented nationally. — KWF and GGD GHOR present this as a national estimate. source
- confirmed The Cancer Atlas uses data on diagnoses from 2011 through 2022. — IKNL states this period in its methodological explanation. source
- confirmed Regional atlas data do not directly say anything about individual risk. — IKNL explicitly warns against this interpretation. source
Editor's note
The funding, target group and prevention themes come from the announcement by KWF and GGD GHOR. The Cancer Atlas describes regional patterns; the figures should not be interpreted as individual medical advice.Sources
- KWF en GGD GHOR Nederland versterken lokale preventie — KWF Kankerbestrijding
- KWF en GGD GHOR Nederland versterken lokale preventie waar gezondheidsverschillen het grootst zijn — GGD GHOR Nederland
- Nederlandse Kankeratlas — Integraal Kankercentrum Nederland
- Methodologische beperkingen — Integraal Kankercentrum Nederland
More on this in Dutch media
- Het Parool — „kanker preventie”
- Trouw — „kanker preventie”
- NRC — „kanker preventie”