On 24 March 2025 a conference marking Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Awareness Month was held at the Constitution Hall of the Seimas. It was organised by the Lithuanian Cancer Patient Coalition (POLA) in cooperation with the Lithuanian Oncology Society (LOD) and, Member of the Seimas, Prof. Saulius Čaplinskas. 

POLA, brings together 30 oncology NGOs and more than 55000 community members, invites politicians, representatives of state and municipal authorities, medical institutions, doctors’ and patients’ organisations, and other social partners to come together to discuss possible measures to overcome the challenges of CRC prevention, early diagnosis, and to reduce the stigma around screening.

The conference will be held in two parts, with live attendance limited to pre-registered persons only, but there will also be a live stream of the event, which can be watched on the Seimas’ YouTube account Open Seimas.

In the first part of the conference, Prof. Tomas Poškus will give an overview of the trends in CRC incidence and the implementation of the CRC prevention programmes in Lithuania, and present a pilot model. Special attention will be paid to the latest diagnostic trends in Europe and worldwide, which will be presented by Prof. Juozas Kupčinskas. Dr Audrius Dulskas will then discuss the experiences of family doctors and patients in implementing this preventive programme.

The second part of the conference will include a discussion, moderated by journalist and broadcaster Laura Dabulytė, identifying and discussing targeted measures to overcome the challenges of CRC prevention, early diagnosis, and stigma reduction. The discussion will aim to give the chance to all interested participants to contribute to the event.

The planned outcome of the conference will be the identification of concrete measures that should be implemented in Lithuania over the next five years to improve cancer prevention and control outcomes, based on the principles of evidence based medicine.

The event is part of POLA’s 2025 Cancer Awareness Campaign ‘After THAT’ and will take place in Lithuanian. 

Watch the event at the Parliament’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/nhfgYHsK4ME on Monday, 8:30 -12:30 CET.