Momentum for HPV interventions at World Health Assembly

This year’s World Health Assembly saw renewed momentum to scale up cervical cancer elimination efforts in line with the World Health Organization’s 2018 global strategy. More than 1400 signatories from 116 countries (and counting) signed a global Declaration to Eliminate Cervical Cancer calling for urgent action in vaccination, screening, and treatment. The Declaration includes WHO’s 2022 endorsement of single-dose HPV vaccination as a key opportunity to reach more girls with cervical cancer prevention.

PATH and partners also launched a statement on the public health potential of single-dose HPV vaccination, summarizing the evidence base from diverse geographies that continues to reinforce WHO’s endorsement, including the latest findings from the pivotal KEN SHE study (see below).

Single-dose HPV vaccine study achieves new milestone

Launched in 2018, the randomized, controlled KENya Single-dose HPV vaccine Efficacy (KEN SHE) study in African adolescent girls and young women had previously shown that a single dose of HPV vaccination was about 98 percent effective in preventing new onset persistent HPV 16/18 in a sexually active population (15–20 year-olds). Three-year post-vaccination data, shared in April at the International Papillomavirus Vaccine Conference, shows persisting vaccine efficacy—the first randomized, controlled trial to do so for single-dose HPV vaccination. The findings lend further confidence to findings of persistent immune response seen in observational studies.

New article examines importance of lifesaving HPV vaccination

In a new article for The Optimist, Cathy Ndiaye, PATH’s director of HPV vaccine programs, writes about the impact cervical cancer has had on both her personal and professional lives—and how HPV vaccination is the key to prevention. Ndiaye discusses the gains made in HPV vaccination over the last decade, as well as the dip in vaccination rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and what it will take to get back on track, particularly in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that suffer the greatest disease burden. She outlines the importance of innovative communications strategies and empowering trusted, local voices to share their stories; ensuring everyone from policymakers to families of young girls are aware of WHO’s updated recommendation on single-dose vaccination; and strengthening local health care and increasing access to cervical cancer screenings.

Cathy Ndiaye, PATH Director of HPV Vaccine Programs. Photo: ©Gates Archive

Q&A with Anne Schuind

WHO’s cervical cancer elimination goals include 90 percent of girls by age 15 years being fully vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) by 2030. Dr. Anne Schuind, PATH Initiative Team Leader for HPV Vaccines, discusses how PATH is helping to reach this goal. Originally printed in PATH's Moving the Needle e-newsletter.

Q: Is this goal achievable?
A: Global HPV vaccination coverage was already low before COVID-19 hit—20 percent in 2019—but the pandemic shrunk coverage to just 15 percent in 2021. WHO’s goal is ambitious, but I remain hopeful that it can be met.

Q: What needs to be done?
A: Increasing the number and global availability of affordable HPV vaccines is crucial, particularly for LMICs. PATH provides technical assistance to developing-country vaccine manufacturers and is also supporting countries introducing HPV vaccination programs. In addition, PATH supports a Phase 3 clinical study in Ghana and Bangladesh of an HPV vaccine that received WHO prequalification in 2021 to generate additional data on the vaccine’s performance. Further, we’re assessing several nonavalent HPV candidates (covering nine HPV strains) to be tested for immunogenicity compared to a licensed HPV vaccine with proven single-dose efficacy in a Phase 3 trial.

Q: Why is the single-dose schedule important?
A: PATH manages the Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium, which gathers and evaluates data on this approach to HPV vaccination. Based on the current evidence, WHO endorsed a single dose as an alternate schedule for 9- to 20-year-olds. Implementing this schedule in LMICs could greatly expand coverage, reaching more girls and ultimately preventing more cases of cervical cancer