Bonn – November 02, 2026 -- Deutsche Krebshilfe is funding six research projects with a total of €3.1 million over three years to examine how social inequality shapes cancer care and what financial damage a diagnosis causes. The new priority program, "Krebs und Armut" (Cancer and Poverty), targets a gap the charity describes as insufficiently researched.
Gerd Nettekoven, the charity's executive board member, said a patient's social and financial situation should not determine the quality of care or the chances of living with and after cancer. He said the program is also meant to give evidence for pressing health and social policy makers to close existing deficits.
Two core questions drive the six projects
The studies examine how socioeconomic differences, including education, occupation and income, affect healthcare for cancer patients. They also assess the financial consequences of the disease, particularly for people with low socioeconomic status. Income can fall through prolonged sick leave or reduced working hours, while travel costs, co-payments for drugs and treatment, and everyday support add expenses.
Regina Brunnett, professor at Fulda University of Applied Sciences and a member of the expert panel overseeing the program, said prevention research has focused mainly on reaching disadvantaged groups, while poverty is rarely an explicit research aspect.
Lung and breast cancer studies map access and quality of care
DICCS, led by Hajo Zeeb, Tilmann Brand and Ulrike Haug at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology in Bremen, uses lung cancer to analyze social differences in access to care and uptake of services. SoVer, led by Lena Ansmann at the University of Cologne with Olaf von dem Knesebeck at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, tracks inequalities in breast cancer care across acute inpatient treatment, rehabilitation, aftercare and, where relevant, palliative care.
SOFIE, led by Matthias H. Belau and Christian Wiessner at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, compares access, reachability and satisfaction with treatment and aftercare by socioeconomic status. It also links the social and financial consequences of cancer to that status.
Family costs, financial toxicity and risk groups get dedicated projects
FiBel, led by Julia Roick and Irene Teichert-von Lüttichau at the Technical University of Munich, is the first systematic study for Germany of how childhood and adolescent cancer affects family finances. It records direct and indirect costs, income changes and psychosocial effects, with the aim of identifying high-risk families early.
APRETOX, led by Eva Münster at Witten/Herdecke University with partners including the Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen e.V., develops measures to prevent "financial toxicity." The charity says such burdens can substantially reduce quality of life, treatment adherence and survival probability.
RELIEF, a representative longitudinal study led by Katja Mehlis and Eva Winkler at Heidelberg University and the National Center for Tumor Diseases, tracks how financial burdens and socioeconomic status change during illness. It aims to identify risk groups and enable early, targeted support.