JANE-2

The Joint Action on Networks of Expertise (JANE-2) is aimed at creating seven EU networks of a new kind, named “Networks of Expertise” (NoEs), in the cancer area, and allowing them to start fulfilling their mission. They will cover the following areas of interest:

1. complex and poor-prognosis cancers;
2. palliative care;
3. survivorship;
4. personalized primary/secondary prevention;
5. omic technologies;
6. hi-tech medical resources;
7. adolescents and young adults with cancer

These NoEs should provide services to the European cancer community. Each of them focusing on itssubject, these services may include, but will not be limited to, the following:

a) producing, or supporting, clinical practice guidelines and/or general recommendations for medical professionals, patients, the public;

b) raising public awareness and carrying out advocacy/policy actions;

c) developing healthcare organization models;

d) developing educational initiatives/tools for medical professionals and patientse) undertaking efforts to promote research;

f) developing quality criteria for accreditation/endorsement mechanisms;

g) engaging patients and the public;

h) others.

The wide range of objectives that NoEs will fulfil may bring about a degree of overlaps with other EU networks (i.e. CCIN and ERNs), but also scientific and professional societies at the European and national level, patient advocacy groups, etc. An effort has been made within JANE to assure that areas of overlaps may translate into synergies (by pursuing complementarity and avoiding different entities carryingout the same tasks).

In brief, networking is a great added value of European health care. NoEs will be an attempt of a completely new kind of networks. The challenge of JANE has been to try to envisage them; JANE-2 will build them and let them fly. Its ultimate goal is to make sure that, by the end of JANE-2, NoEs will be largely independent and at the same time able to collaborate with each other and with the other EUnetworks (CCIN, ERNs) and the whole European oncology community (including scientific/professional societies, patient advocacy groups, etc.