EUROPA DONNA’S 16th Pan-European Conference provided participants with the latest information and tools to help them break barriers in breast cancer advocacy in their countries. Covered topics range from surgery and radiation to genetic testing. At the conference, Anne May presented the general evidence on the effect of exercise in oncology and provided an update on the PREFERABLE project.

On the 9^th and 10^th of October we met in Amsterdam for the 10^th PREFERABLE Consortium Meeting. We discussed new findings following the analysis of the available data. We did not only look at the clinical data but also presented findings on the cost-effectiveness of the EFFECT trial. In addition, we made plans for our research on the blood samples. We expect the first publication of our results at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024. When these results are final we will of course inform all of the participants and health care professionals that have contributed to the project.

On the 14^th and 15^th of September, 2023, the International Conference on Physiotherapy in Oncology (ICPTO) ‘Advances in providing the best care’ took place in Amsterdam.

Martijn Stuiver, also founder of the ICPTO conference, presented results from the PERSPECTIVE survey and focus groups. He discussed the preferences, barriers and facilitators for exercise interventions and stressed the importance of offering a helping hand to cancer survivors when engaging in exercise: when should exercise be implemented, provide a personalized advise and ensure easy accessible training facilities.

Anne May discussed whether the benefits of exercise outweigh the costs. She concluded that the current state of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of exercise programs for cancer survivors is very scarce and inconclusive. More research, and specifically on the cost-effectiveness of exercise, is needed to get exercise implemented. In addition, she presented preliminary results of the interviews that were conducted to get insight in the barriers and facilitators of integrating exercise in European Healthcare systems and health insurance systems.