Bridging Cancer Care, the Foundation’s cancer initiative in Central and Eastern Europe, directs funding and develops partnerships to help narrow the differences in care and outcomes experienced by countries in central and eastern Europe. Priority areas include:

• Capacity building for cancer nursing
• Healthcare worker training
• Screening

Current partnerships include:

Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope
Implementing a national education initiative to improve palliative, end of life care in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia

International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care
Educating nurses in the Czech Republic about advances in tobacco control, cancer prevention, treatment and care

National Center of Nursing and Other Health Professions
Educating community nurses in the Czech Republic about cancer prevention and actively engaging nurses in the education and promotion of healthy lifestyles for cancer patients

Partners in Progress
Increasing health literacy and improving quality of life for cancer patients in Romania by educating community nurses and forming partnerships between nurses, libraries and patients in two counties

Polish Amazons Social Movement
Training community nurses in Poland on cancer prevention, epidemiology, treatment and patient care and to establish regional information centers that community nurses can contact with questions

World Services of La Crosse
Developing and implementing training programs in Russia to enhance cancer nursing skills and to enhance health system capacity for prevention, screening and contemporary care models

For a complete listing of current grants, click here.

The Hungarian League Against Cancer in cooperation with the Vásárhely Health Program and Erzsébet Hospital is increasing breast cancer screening for socially disadvantaged women through psychosocial support and providing training for mammography technicians. The project intends to increase mammography screening uptake from 40% to 70%. This project exemplifies the partnerships that the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation aims to build to improve cancer care and outcomes for underserved populations in central and eastern Europe. To learn more, please view the video.