The creation of a national cancer registry, designed to improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of cancers, has officially been launched, the Ministry of Health and the National Cancer Institute (INCa) announced on December 29, along with a phased rollout. The decree outlining the registry's implementation procedures was published the previous day in the Official Journal, approximately six months after the final adoption of the relevant legislation by Parliament.
The national registry, managed by the INCa, aims to collect data concerning all cancer cases in the territory" , from " the collection and matching, in a pseudonymized manner, of data from multiple sources – cancer registries, existing national databases, clinical and biological data, care and screening data –", the ministry and the Institute recalled in a statement.
Its implementation This represents a major step forward in improving our understanding of cancer epidemiology.", by allowing to " to produce and disseminate reliable indicators of incidence and mortality, with analyses at the national, regional and sub-regional levels, and to strengthen population health surveillance tools", according to the same source.
“ Having this data means giving ourselves the means to better objectify realities, to measure social and territorial inequalities, to evaluate the impact of prevention and screening actions, and to guide research and public policies"The president of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Norbert Ifrah, and the director general, Nicolas Scotté, were among those quoted in the press release welcoming this initiative. The deployment of the registry, a major action of the ten-year strategy to combat cancer 2021-2030" , will be " progressive", in conjunction with the various stakeholders involved in health and digital technology, according to the ministry and the INCa.
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Extrapolations "whose reliability is questionable"
Currently, around thirty general, non-specialized registries cover less than a quarter of the population, Therefore, the available data is based on extrapolations, the reliability of which is questionable.", according to Professor François Guilhot, member of the Academy of Medicine, quoted in a report by Macronist MP Michel Lauzzana.
“ Data is lacking on the most socially vulnerable population and areas exposed to environmental risks."Dr. Claire Morgand, director of data science observation and evaluation at INCa, told AFP in June.
In early June, former Health Minister and MP Aurélien Rousseau (affiliated with the Socialist Party), revealing in the chamber that he had cancer, asked the government to complete this registry.
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