A draft resolution of the Council of Ministers amending the principles of implementation of the National Oncology Strategy for 2020-2030 has been submitted for public consultation. It assumes the expansion of the catalog of entities to which the Minister of Health will be able to entrust health education and cancer prevention activities - including patient organizations and other public health entities.
Changes to the National Cancer Strategy. It's all about prevention and education
Published Feb. 4, 2026 08:06
The National Oncology Strategy was adopted by a resolution of the Council of Ministers on February 4, 2020, and covers the years 2020-2030. One of its main pillars is increasing public awareness of cancer prevention and shaping pro-health attitudes through education in the broadest sense. The current regulations provide that the implementation of the tasks of the National Cancer Strategy may be entrusted by the Minister of Health to, among others, organizational units of the Ministry, units subordinate to or supervised by the Minister, as well as to selected implementers indicated in the regulations or selected through a bidding competition on the basis of the Law on Health Care Services Financed from Public Funds. The draft amendment to the resolution provides for expansion of this catalog. As indicated in the justification, the purpose of the amendments is to increase the reach of promotional activities in health education and cancer prevention. This is to enable more effective outreach to various social groups, including with the support of entities working close to patients.
According to the draft, a new point is to be added to the section on the financial framework of the National Cancer Strategy, which will allow the Health Minister to entrust the implementation of selected tasks or promotional activities to entities that meet the criteria set forth in the Public Health Law. The entities in question are those whose statutory objectives or objects of activity relate to public health tasks, including patient organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of cancer patients. The new solution will include, among other things, activities related to improving adult awareness of the impact of lifestyle on cancer risk and developing effective methods to encourage Poles to participate in screening.
Tasks are to be entrusted through a bidding competition, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Public Health. Competitions will be announced by the Minister of Health, and funds for task implementation will be transferred on the basis of agreements concluded with selected implementers. Importantly, the regulations on public procurement and the Law on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism will not be applied to the selection of implementers.
The expected effect of the proposed changes is to increase the effectiveness and reach of educational and preventive activities carried out as part of the National Cancer Strategy, and as a consequence - to improve screening enrollment and increase public health awareness.
Source: RCL
