“Creating a national cancer registry is an expensive, slow and redundant project”

Cancers are a major public health issue. With more than 400,000 new cases each year in France, their frequency continues to increase in certain populations, particularly among young people. It is therefore fully justified that the fight against cancer be made a public health priority and that it give rise to ambitious initiatives.

But this imperative must not lead to the multiplication of systems without coherence or strategic vision. The creation of a national cancer registry , adopted unanimously in the Senate (2023 ) and by the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, raises questions: on its effectiveness, its implementation timeframes, its cost, and its relevance compared to the tools already available.

A registry, in the strict sense, involves the active collection of individual information on all cases of a disease in a given area, for surveillance and research purposes. It mobilizes numerous sources (hospitals, laboratories, pathology, etc.), dedicated teams, and a rigorous case validation process. It is only after several years of information collection and validation that public health and research work can truly begin. These are cumbersome tools, designed at a time when digital health systems were not yet available or interconnected.

However, since 2006, France has had the National Health Data System (SNDS) , which continuously, passively and securely collects anonymous individual data on the entire population: hospitalizations, prescriptions, reimbursements. It is an operational tool with a very low marginal cost for research and surveillance. The SNDS is today the largest medical-administrative health database in the world. It is a true national treasure, underexploited, whose potential for managing public health is immense.

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