CURTAIN

CURTAIN - Beating Cancer Inequalities through Literacy in Europe

The CURTAIN project (15 partners from 9 European countries) aligns with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Cancer Mission to reduce cancer inequalities across Europe by focusing on cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and quality of life. These initiatives aim to address disparities between Eastern and Western Europe, urban and rural areas, and vulnerable socio-economic groups. 

Cancer remains a significant public health issue, with 2.78 million new cases in 2022 across the EU+2, and inequalities in cancer care are exacerbated by social and economic disparities, including gender and education gaps. CURTAIN will prioritize improving cancer literacy as a key element in reducing these inequalities and enhancing access to quality cancer prevention and care. The project has five key pillars of focus:

1. Cancer literacy among citizens
   CURTAIN will develop and implement the first cancer-specific tool dedicated to measuring cancer literacy (Cancer Literacy Score - CLS) in seven countries (BG, IT, MD, MO, PT, RO, UA). This will inform the implementation of cancer literacy campaigns, particularly campaigns related to the European Code Against Cancer. The tool will be open source, promoted to all EU Member States and freely available for others to use it.
2. Cancer literacy among patients 
   CURTAIN will build the capacity of patients to understand cancer in the context of national and local health systems in BG, MD, MO, RO, and UA using co-creation methods, including for vulnerable groups, and regarding the use of technologies for cancer literacy, including Large Language Models.
3. Cancer literacy among healthcare professionals 
   A dedicated training curriculum on cancer literacy will be developed targeting family doctors, hospital doctors and medical students. Specific training activities will be conducted in all seven countries in the consortium, and a group of Cancer Literacy Ambassadors will be selected in each country. Additionally, exchange programs will be conducted between experts in CURTAIN countries to share best practices and lessons learned.
4. Organizational cancer literacy 
   Specific activities will be conducted to extensively map relevant stakeholders at European, national, regional, and local levels in all consortium countries, facilitating a deep understanding of the structure and dynamics in each health system. Educational and engagement activities will be implemented to identify and build cancer-literate organizations, and best practices and lessons learned will be shared in a Virtual Cancer Literacy Library and beyond project partners through the extensive networks of CURTAIN's partners.
5. Knowledge gaps and inequalities addressed through digital tools 
   CURTAIN will prepare citizens, patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations to navigate the digital landscape in the AI era. A guide on how to safely use publicly available large language models for cancer literacy will be developed by a multidisciplinary group of experts. Co-creation activities with citizens and patients, carefully supervised by National Cancer Literacy Boards, will be implemented in BG, MD, MO, and RO, involving vulnerable groups (rural, elderly, migrants, Roma population) to co-design a real-world model for using large language models for cancer literacy. A report on cancer literacy and online disinformation, misinformation, and fake news will also be developed.