We can eliminate cervical cancer in our lifetime here's how

In August 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer in our lifetime.

To eliminate cervical cancer, According to WHOall countries should achieve and maintain an incidence rate below 4 per 100,000 women.

To achieve this goal, WHO set three objectives:

• vaccinations: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by age 15.
• Review: 70% of women were screened using a high-throughput test by age 35 and again at age 45.
• Treatment: 90% of women with cancer treated before cancer and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed.

The deadline to meet these targets is 2030, which is a north star for many in women's health and oncology.

I don't necessarily know that I thought eliminating cervical cancer was something that would happen in my lifetime, said Citseko Staples Miller, Managing Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences at FTI Consulting. She spoke at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) International Convention 2024 during a panel, Achieving WHO targets for cervical cancer elimination: The value of innovation in achieving key public health goals.

The fact that we are here and that we have a roadmap with some great mile markers along the way to help us understand where we need to go to measure progress is extremely exciting, she said.

How far we have come with cervical cancer

Indeed, there are a number of success stories in the field of eliminating cervical cancer. BIO Ventures for Global Health and Merck, among other organizations, have worked to treat cervical cancer in Rwanda.

In Rwanda, we have had programs where we have had strong activation, explained Jenelle Krishnamoorthy, Ph.D., Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy and International Affairs at Merck. We have 98% of eligible individuals vaccinated. And this was a big multi-sector program where we brought stakeholders together so they could talk about what leadership is and that this is the right thing to do for your children.

The work being done in Europe has also been encouraging. In France, Krishnamoorthy continued, we were able to look at this in a holistic way. We asked, How can we reach people and children more easily? In addition to outreach through schools and pharmacies, legislation was passedenable examinations and vaccinations. The legislation funded further outreach through faith-based groups and parent-teacher groups, among others.

In the US, initiatives include the Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, which provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings to women who meet eligibility guidelines, as well as using community partners to ensure that they can reach people.

Similarly, the success of the programs in Scotland has excited those working to treat cervical cancer. As Bio.News reported in Januaryin Scotland, cervical cancer in women born between 19881996 who were fully vaccinated against HPV between the ages of 12 and 13.

And with the rise of self-sampling kits to screen for cervical cancer, there is an opportunity to reach previously unreachable communities. It doesn't sound like the most exciting technology, it's not the most interesting science, but it's so important to be able to reach the women who need it, said Joanna Sickler, MBA, MPH and Vice President at Roche Diagnostics. And we were really excited about what that means for the programs we work on around the world.

Can we reach the 2030 targets?

Even considering all the progress, there is still much work to be done to reach the WHO 2030 targets for cervical cancer.

Unfortunately, the reality is that cervical cancer elimination goals are not going as well as they could be, Sickler said. We still have a lot of women to reach and I really think that everyone, both the public and private sectors, needs to take responsibility for what we ourselves can do better and how we can listen and work with the other side because we wouldn't be able to do this if we didn't all work together.

Dr. Krishnamoorthy challenged the audience to identify just one friend who talks to everyone and tell them about cervical cancer vaccination and prevention. That's all I ask you to do.