PAHO/WHO / Ary Rogério Silva
HPV vaccination in São Paulo, Brazil, March 2014
© Credits

Global cervical cancer elimination forum: advancing the call to action

Every 2 minutes

a woman dies of cervical cancer

Over 90%

of the 348 000 deaths from cervical cancer in 2022 occurred in low- and middle-income countries

The “Global cervical cancer elimination forum: advancing the call to action” was held from 5 to 7 March 2024, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

The Forum aimed to catalyse governments, donors, civil society, and others to commit to cervical cancer elimination and galvanize the global community.

Every year, cervical cancer continues to impact hundreds of thousands of women, families, and communities, even though we have all the tools we need to prevent it and even eliminate it completely. Access to vaccines, screening and treatment continues to be scarce in the places that need them most. Vaccines prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, in turn preventing cervical cancer and other HPV-related cancers.

WHO’s Global Strategy for Cervical Cancer Elimination, launched on 17 November 2020, lays out a clear path to eliminating the disease through vaccination, screening and treatment. New evidence for a single-dose vaccine, and updated recommendations to simplify and increase access to screening and treatment, will reduce barriers to implementing WHO’s strategy. The strategy sets out 3 clear targets to meet by 2030 to put countries on the path to elimination:

  • 90% of girls vaccinated against HPV by age 15
  • 70% of women screened with a high-performance test by age 35 and again at 45
  • 90% of women with cervical disease receiving treatment

Annual deaths from cervical cancer will likely reach 410 000 by 2030 if we do not change course. This forum aims to be a pivotal moment and a historic first step in securing government commitments to eliminate, for the first time ever, a full category of cancer on a global scale.

List of commitments available here

Organizing partners

  • Government of Colombia
  • Government of Spain
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
  • Global Financing Facility 
  • Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
  • UNICEF
  • United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
  • Unitaid
  • World Bank
  • World Health Organization

Watch the webcast

Press room

 

Forum objectives

 

  • Showcase to global and country audiences the unnecessary and preventable burden of cervical cancer on low- and middle-income countries and the promise of HPV vaccine programmes, coupled with screening and treatment.

  • Secure low- and middle-income country commitments to introduce and/or expand access to HPV vaccines and cervical cancer diagnostic and treatment options and galvanize movement toward a one–dose HPV vaccine regimen.

  • Facilitate capacity-building and provide opportunities for countries and partners to share learnings from country cervical cancer elimination and HPV vaccination programmes.

  • Build and sustain momentum around specific commitments to accelerate cervical cancer elimination.

  • Ignite activists and champions to support these efforts.

 

Key messages

 

A group of people standing outside a building

Cervical cancer

has an inequitable impact, with the majority of cases and deaths from the disease occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
A person wearing a brown head covering

A highly preventable disease,

cervical cancer can be eliminated through HPV vaccination, together with screening and treatment.
A child holding a piece of paper

Access to vaccines, screening and treatment

is unacceptably low in areas that most need it and where cases of cervical cancer and resulting deaths are rising at an alarming rate.
A group of young children in uniform

Commitment and accountability

to meet WHO’s 90–70–90 targets is essential to change course, with the potential to save millions of lives.