What is Cervical Cancer?

The only cancer that is 100% preventable. It is can also be cured if detected early and properly treated. Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cells of the cervix — the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina.

Hope for women comes from education about women’s reproductive health and early and often screening. Cervical cancer is one of the most successfully treatable forms of cancer, as long as it is detected early and managed effectively. A diagnosis of cervical cancers in late stages can also be controlled with appropriate treatment and palliative care.

With global initiatives and culturally relevant comprehensive approaches to reach women in rural areas, prevention, screening, and treatment of cervical cancer, we can eliminate a public health crisis within a generation.

Global Impact

Cervical cancer is a global crisis impacting women and their families across the world – especially in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC). Women are the primary source of income and stability in LMICs. Without women, their families, communities and the world economy suffer. Here are the facts:

• In 2020, an estimated 604,237 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer globally.

• Cervical cancer killed an estimated 341,843 women in 2020.

• Nine in ten cervical cancer deaths (90%) worldwide occurred in low-and-middle-income countries, where resource barriers drastically reduce access to prevention, screening, and treatment services.

• Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in 36 low-and middle-income countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

• As of 2020, less than 25% of low-income countries have introduced the HPV vaccine into their national immunization schedules compared to 85% of high-income countries.

• Today, more women are dying of cervical cancer than are dying in childbirth.

• A woman living with HIV is six times more likely to develop cervical cancer than her HIV-negative peers.

HPV

Various strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection, play a role in causing 99% of cervical cancer cases. Cervical HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection.

When exposed to HPV, a woman’s immune system typically prevents the virus from doing harm. However, in some women, the virus survives for years (5 - 10 years), causing some cells on the surface of the cervix to divide and grow abnormally, resulting in cancer cells. HPV infection usually has no symptoms causing the healthy cervix to silently progress into cervical cancer in 10 - 15 years.

You can reduce your risk of developing cervical cancer by having early and often screening tests and receiving a vaccine that protects against HPV infection.

90-70-90 Strategy

In 2020, the World Health Organization launched its Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem, with three targets to guide prevention programs. Commonly referred to as the 90-70-90 target, which must be met by 2030 for countries to be on the path toward cervical cancer elimination.

1. Vaccinate 90% of girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) by age 15

2. 70% of women are screened with a high-performance test by 35 years of age and again by 45 years of age

3. 90% of women identified with cervical disease receive treatment (90% of women with pre-cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed).