WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative Newsletter: Latest Updates
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Director’s Note
Dear Friends,
I am extremely excited at the increasing momentum that cervical cancer elimination efforts are gaining both globally and locally. The opportunities and the commitments made at the first Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum: Advancing the call to action, held in Cartagena, Colombia, this March, with pledges close to 600 million USD, gives renewed hope and optimism that the world can indeed eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem. While stakeholders’ collaboration will remain critical for stimulating the achievement of the Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy targets, we, as partners, donors, private sector, multilateral and bilateral organizations, must also jointly rethink our implementation strategies with governments to reach the most vulnerable population groups.
As a global community, our collective action is not just a moral imperative, it is also an investment necessary to build the resilience of countries, secure the future of girls, and ensure the health and wellbeing of women, and their communities. Achieving these goals will require international support and cooperation between governments, partners, private sector, and donors. This is not only in the form of financial support, but also as technical assistance and the use of innovation for implementation across the three Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy pillars. This is a must if we are to steer the world towards the path of health system resilience for Cervical Cancer elimination.
It is time for the international community to move these commitments into action. The cost of delay and disunity will be too high for us all.
Warm regards,
Director, Department of NCDs
The CCEI high level mission in AFRO
The CCEI under the leadership of the Director for NCD in HQ, recently undertook a high-level mission to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone organized by the 3 levels of WHO. In these countries, Ministers of Health provided firsthand insights into enablers and barriers to services across the three pillars. “Witnessing the dedication of the health workers was inspiring, yet we couldn't ignore the daily challenges they confront. They voiced the need for additional training, improved equipment, sufficient consumables” Dr Bente Mikkelsen.
WHO Global Action: Cartagena Meeting Outcomes
Wave of new commitments marks historic step towards the elimination of cervical cancer
Governments, donors, multilateral institutions, and partners announced major new policy, programmatic and financial commitments, including nearly US$ 600 million in new funding, to eliminate cervical cancer. If these ambitions to expand vaccine coverage and strengthen screening and treatment programs are fully realized, the world could eliminate a cancer for the first time.
These commitments were made at the first-ever Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum: Advancing the Call to Action in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to catalyse national and global momentum to end this preventable disease.
Global cancer burden growing, amidst mounting need for services
This World Cancer Day, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), released the latest estimates of the global burden of cancer. WHO also published survey results from 115 countries, showing a majority of countries do not adequately finance priority cancer and palliative care services, as part of universal health coverage (UHC).
Cervical cancer was the eighth most commonly occurring cancer globally and the ninth leading cause of cancer death, accounting for 661 044 new cases and 348 186 deaths. It is the most common cancer in women in 25 countries, many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Even while recognizing varying incidence levels, cervical cancer can be eliminated as a public health problem, through the scale-up of the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative.
Over 35 million new cancer cases are predicted in 2050, a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cases in 2022. The rapidly growing global cancer burden reflects both population ageing and growth, as well as changes to people’s exposure to risk factors, several of which are associated with socioeconomic development.
WHO YouTube Live: to mark the Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
A powerful Live event to mark #CervicalCancerAwarenessMonth & #HPVAwarenessWeek. WHO amplifies survivor stories to enlighten & inspire. A vital dialogue for everyone – the public, policymakers, healthcare professionals.
Country Actions
Zambia steps up cervical cancer screening with HPV testing
Zambia has the third highest burden of cervical cancer in the world, with an incidence rate of 65.5 per 100 000 women and a mortality rate of 43.4 per 100 000 women in 2020. Despite being a preventable and treatable disease, cervical cancer accounts for about 23% of all new cancer cases in the country. To address this challenge, Zambia has been implementing a robust screening programme since 2006, using visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) as the primary screening tool.
To date, Zambia has expanded HPV testing to all 10 provinces with 10 regional central laboratories as of 2021. In-line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative, Zambia aims to achieve 90% HPV vaccination coverage, 70% screening coverage, and 90% treatment and care coverage by 2030.
Leadership roundtable event on women’s health: addressing women’s cancers in the Eastern Mediterranean
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean successfully organized a landmark event as part of the Presidential Initiative on Women’s Health. Held on 18 January 2024, this roundtable event coincided with the 16th Annual Breast, Gynecological and Immunoncology International Cancer Conference forum and addressed the escalating challenges of breast and cervical cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Organized under the auspices of His Excellency Professor Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Health and Population, and led by Professor Hesham Elghazali, Head of the Presidential Initiative of Women’s Health, the event facilitated international collaboration, assessed cost-effectiveness of interventions and promoted cross-learning in alignment with WHO’s mission.
“Time to get checked! Be one step ahead of cancer!” WHO engages with media in Kyrgyzstan
A press café for journalists and civil activists held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, at the end of January focused on preventing the 2 most common cancers among women of reproductive age: cervical cancer and breast cancer. Organized by WHO alongside the country’s Ministry of Health, the main goal was to draw public attention to the importance of early diagnosis, early treatment and prevention of cancer, in line with Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in January and World Cancer Day.
Resources and Publication Highlights
