A Turning Point for Cervical Cancer: Elimination in Reach
Learn how HPV vaccination plus high-performance screening and timely treatment can deliver the WHO 90-70-90 goals.
Every year, cervical cancer claims over 350,000 lives around the world, and it is women in low- and middle-income countries and marginalized communities who bear the heaviest burden.1 HPV Awareness Day highlights the progress being made toward eliminating cervical cancer and reminds us how close we are to overcoming this preventable disease. For the first time in history, we have a clear global strategy and pathway to eliminate a cancer entirely.
Structured cervical screening programs have already proven highly effective in reducing cervical cancer rates in many high-income countries, establishing the foundation for prevention before the introduction of HPV vaccines.
More recently, the roll-out of HPV vaccination programs has brought us closer than ever to eliminating cervical cancer. Australia is leading the way—on track to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem within the next decade.2 By combining high vaccination coverage with accessible and innovative screening approaches, Australia has shown how a comprehensive prevention strategy can transform outcomes.
This balance is crucial, as vaccination alone isn’t enough. Achieving elimination requires us to prioritize access to screening, timely treatment, and follow-up care, while supporting the health system evolution needed to reach everyone at risk.
The foundation for elimination
HPV vaccination is reshaping the future, protecting younger generations and bringing the elimination of cervical cancer closer to reality. But vaccination introduced today will take decades to fully impact incidence, meaning that millions of women at risk right now still need protection. This is why screening remains essential, working alongside vaccination and treatment to accelerate progress toward elimination.
Screening provides a safety net that protects those most at risk. Catching abnormalities early, when treatment is most effective, screening goes hand in hand with vaccination to form the foundation of the WHO’s 90-70-90 strategy:3 vaccinating 90% of girls, screening 70% of women with a high-performance test, and ensuring 90% of those who need treatment receive it.
But to fulfil this vision, it is not enough to offer vaccines and screenings and wait for women to attend. The success of many vaccination programs, particularly school-based initiatives, highlights the importance of meeting women and girls where they are—bringing prevention directly to communities in accessible and trusted environments.
Just as health systems have adapted to reach a critical mass of women with vaccines, they must extend the same proactive focus to screening, making it as flexible and accessible as possible, and seamlessly connected to timely treatment when needed.
Breaking barriers to cervical screening
HPV infections are common, and in most cases, the immune system controls them effectively, reducing the virus to undetectable levels without causing harm.4 Cervical cancer typically develops slowly over time, which is why screening is so essential—it detects abnormalities early, providing the opportunity to address them before they progress.
But the reality is that emotional and practical barriers continue to prevent many women from accessing screening. Fear of pain or discomfort, embarrassment, and anxiety about results are common reasons for avoidance, with 30 percent of women reporting these concerns in a recent survey.5
Practical challenges also prevent uptake, with 22 percent of women citing workplace responsibilities, family commitments, or difficulty booking appointments as barriers.5 There is also a culture of silence that leaves many women without the knowledge or support needed to take that first step in the care process.5 Only 18 percent of women surveyed said they had discussed their fears or concerns about cervical screening with someone else.5
Screening is not an isolated event. It is the starting point of a pathway that leads from detection to follow-up, diagnosis, and treatment. If women are discouraged from attending, the entire pathway breaks down, and opportunities to detect abnormalities early and prevent cervical cancer are lost.
Biomarkers in Focus
This eBook highlights the emerging trends, technologies, and translational strategies shaping biomarker discovery and its application across oncology, neurology, immunology, and beyond.View eBook
Overcoming these barriers requires more than awareness alone. It calls for new approaches that are designed to integrate screening into women’s daily lives and ensure that every step of the care pathway is supported.
Making cervical screening easier and more accessible
New approaches to screening are helping break down some of the key barriers that stop women from engaging with prevention. Self-collection, for example, offers women the opportunity to collect their sample privately and on their own schedule, removing concerns related to discomfort, stigma, and time constraints. In one survey, 27 percent of millennials said they would be more likely to participate in screening if self-collection were available.5
Other innovative solutions are also being explored, including new screening methods that could make testing even more accessible and less invasive. Innovations like these have the potential to transform cervical cancer elimination, but their success depends not just on the technologies themselves, but on overcoming the systemic barriers that continue to stall progress.
Fragmented laboratory systems, short-term funding models, and a lack of community involvement often prevent large-scale programs from reaching their full potential. But blended financing, combining public health budgets, private sector investments, and donor contributions, can provide long-term stability, reducing reliance on temporary donor cycles.
Momentum is growing in low- and middle-income countries, with more cervical cancer programs integrated into domestic health budgets and national priorities. To sustain this progress, domestic leadership and country ownership must remain at the center of financing strategies.
Recent roundtable discussions involving national ministries of health, healthcare professionals, and industry leaders underscored the importance of this collaborative financing model. By aligning government priorities with multilateral efforts from global organizations and private sector partners, countries can build investment cases that incorporate cervical cancer elimination into national health plans and insurance schemes.
Harnessing the Tumor Microenvironment: A New Frontier in Cancer Therapy
This infographic explores the core components of the TME, their roles in cancer progression and how they can be leveraged to advance cancer therapy.View Infographic
Innovative financing mechanisms, such as multilateral procurement frameworks and cost-sharing models, can create more predictable resources and help ensure programs can sustain progress over time, reaching the communities most in need.
Efforts to improve access must go beyond technical solutions. They must actively respond to women’s lived realities, prioritizing community co-design at every stage of program development. Strong community engagement, whether through grassroots organizations or partnerships with local leaders, can drive greater awareness and trust, making cervical cancer prevention programs more inclusive and effective.
A vision for the future: cervical cancer elimination within reach
We are now closer than ever to eliminating cervical cancer, but the final steps will require bold action and sustained commitment. As vaccination rates rise and herd immunity strengthens, the way we approach prevention will evolve. In the UK, evidence-based policies are already guiding changes to the cervical screening program, such as extending screening intervals from three to five years,6 reflecting how robust data can shape more efficient prevention.
Yet screening remains critical, addressing the gaps vaccination alone cannot fill. So too is collaboration between governments, providers, and communities, to create sustainable prevention programs that adapt to diverse needs. Advances in diagnostics must be coupled with policies that ensure care is not only innovative but also inclusive and accessible to all.
Eliminating cervical cancer is no longer a distant goal; it is a promise we can deliver on. With the tools at our disposal and the collective will to prioritize equity and global collaboration, the vision is now within reach. It’s time to turn ambition into action and achieve this in our lifetime.
Add Technology Networks as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.
