SPAIN
The implementation site in Spain (Catalonia region) is coordinated by the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), a public non-profit comprehensive cancer organisation with a high international recognition (i.e., WHO Collaborating Centre for Tobacco control and WHO HPV Information Centre). On top of cancer care and prevention, specialised training, and research, ICO develops primary cancer prevention and implementation research through its Cancer Prevention and Control Programme and Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme. ICO is partnering with both the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut), which is the unique purchaser of public services for all 7.7 million Catalonian citizens, and the Public Health Agency of Catalonia (ASPCAT), which is responsible amongst other tasks for Public Health policies and programmes for the Region. In PIECES, the close collaboration between the three entities will allow access to all the public healthcare network in Catalonia, comprised by 71 hospitals, 371 primary care centres, and 96 intermediate care centres.
Cancer-related risks factors in their portfolio include: (a) tobacco prevention and control: ICO leads epidemiology, implementation, and health policy research, through its Tobacco Control Unit (TCU). TCU has lead competitive projects in last years to monitor the tobacco pandemic (DCOT, HATLAS, and other nationally funded studies),43–47 the H2020 project (TackSHS – Grant Agreement 681040) assessing the impact of tobacco control policies, projects aimed to design, adapt and implement either innovative or evidence-based interventions such as a community-based “smoke-free homes project”,48–51 and projects aimed to foster smoking cessation services to in and outpatients through the comprehensive Catalan Network of Smoke free Hospitals, including all Catalan hospitals (FRUITFUL52,53; ETHIF54,55; ISCI_SEC56), and offering online and in person training (ERASMUS+57) as well as participation (WP leaders) in the first and second European Union Joint Action on Tobacco Control. (b) human papilloma virus (HPV) prevention and control through the awareness and vaccination campaign in the Cervical Cancer Elimination program, the development of the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Campaign, and implementation and monitoring of training for healthcare professionals on HPV and cervical cancer, etc.58–60 (c) nutrition and cancer research as the Spanish coordinators of European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition,61–63 and capacity to deploy primary prevention interventions addressed to general population or specific target groups (children, low income population, immigrants, etc) in collaboration with CatSalut and ASPCAT.