The WHO has just launched a strategy to eliminate cervical cancer. The said organization estimates, thanks to the generalized access to vaccination, screening and treatment, 5 million lives would be saved by 2050.
Cancer of the cervix is preventable. It is also curable if caught early and treated appropriately. A self-test was even validated in November 2019. It is the fourth most common cancer in women in the world.
To this end, the WHO launched a strategy last Tuesday to eliminate cervical cancer. “Eliminating cancer would have seemed like an impossible dream before, but today we have effective and inexpensive, evidence-based tools to make that dream come true,” said the director. General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a statement.
To date, the three key tools against this cancer (vaccination, screening and treatment) have been generalized in most rich countries. But the situation is far from the same in the rest of the world, especially because of the high cost of the vaccine.
The WHO strategy aims for 90% of girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (responsible for cervical cancer) by the age of 15.
It also predicts that 70% of women will be screened by the age of 35 and 45, and that 90% of women diagnosed with cervical disease will be treated.
If these measures are successfully implemented by 2030, new cases of the disease could be reduced by more than 40% and the number of disease-related deaths by 5 million by 2050.
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