Madrid, 19 October 2026 – One year after the launch of the ON-COME project in Rome, partners from across Europe will come together in Madrid on 19–20 October for the project’s General Assembly, marking an important milestone in its work to strengthen holistic and integrated supportive care for children and young people affected by cancer.
ON-COME, co-funded under the EU4Health Programme, brings together a multidisciplinary consortium working to improve psychosocial, neuropsychological and nutritional support for children, adolescents and young adults undergoing cancer treatment. The project aims to address the wider consequences of cancer and its treatment, recognising that high-quality paediatric oncology care must extend beyond the treatment of the disease itself.
The General Assembly will provide an opportunity for partners to take stock of the work carried out during the first year of the project, review progress across the different areas of activity and align on the priorities for the next phase. Bringing together clinical, psychological, research, technology, patient and policy perspectives, the meeting will support coordination across the consortium and help ensure that the different strands of ON-COME’s work continue to develop towards a common goal.
Since the project’s kick-off meeting in Rome in October 2025, partners have been working to better understand the current landscape of supportive care across Europe and the challenges faced by children, families and healthcare professionals. ON-COME is addressing areas including psychosocial and neuropsychological support, nutritional care, workforce capacity, digital tools and the development of more coordinated models of care.
A key principle running throughout the project is that supportive care should be integrated into paediatric cancer pathways rather than treated as an additional or optional service. This requires not only appropriate clinical and psychological support, but also tools, training, evidence and organisational structures that can enable healthcare systems to provide such care consistently.
The Madrid General Assembly will therefore also look ahead to the next stages of implementation. Partners will discuss how the project’s activities can contribute to the development and testing of integrated approaches, while continuing to consider the needs of children, young people and their families at every stage.
For EAPM, the meeting will be an opportunity to further support the project’s dissemination, stakeholder engagement, ecosystem-building and policy activities. Through its role in Work Package 6, EAPM is working to ensure that ON-COME’s evidence and outputs reach relevant patient organisations, clinical communities, policymakers and wider European health networks, while supporting links with broader European cancer policy priorities.
The General Assembly in Madrid represents an important point in ON-COME’s journey: from establishing the project’s foundations in Rome to moving towards the development, testing and uptake of solutions that can contribute to more coordinated and comprehensive supportive care.
At the heart of this work is a simple principle: children and young people living with cancer need care that addresses the whole person, not only the disease. ON-COME partners will continue working together to help make holistic supportive care a more consistent part of paediatric oncology across Europe.
The ON-COME General Assembly will take place on 19–20 October 2026 in Madrid, Spain.
ON-COME is co-funded by the European Union under the EU4Health Programme (Grant Agreement No. 101219424). The views expressed in this communication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the European Union or HaDEA.