[2024-02-04] World Cancer Day: spotlight on cervical cancer

Today is World Cancer Day, established in 2000 by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to raise awareness, improve education and promote action by individuals, groups and governments with the aim of preventing cancer deaths and facilitating equitable access to cancer treatment.

I spent some time today perusing the WorldCancerDay.org website and was most intrigued by its spotlight on cervical cancer. The UICC describes it as "one of the most highly preventable and curable forms of cancer." In a 4-minute video, A Global Strategy to Eliminate Cervical Cancer, World Health Organization Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says: "We're losing a woman [to cervical cancer] every two minutes and this should not happen, especially when we have all the weapons we need to fight it."

The weapons of which he speaks are:
  1. Prevention – through vaccination against the human papilloma virus (HPV)—responsible for 99% of all cervical cancer cases—and testing for HPV infection and abnormalities as well as precancerous cells in cervical cells
  2. Detection – through early detection and treatment of changes to cervical cells
  3. Treatment – through treatment of cervical cancer at the earliest possible stage

The World Health Organization notes that "Effective primary (HPV vaccination) and secondary prevention approaches (screening for, and treating precancerous lesions) will prevent most cervical cancer cases. When diagnosed, cervical cancer is one of the most successfully treatable forms of cancer, as long as it is detected early and managed effectively."

In 2020, the World Health Organization approved a strategy to eliminate cervical cancer within this century. The strategy set out three goals:
  1. 90% coverage of HPV vaccination of girls (by 15 years of age)
  2. 70% coverage of screening with a high-performance HPV test (between the ages of 35 and 45 years) and 90% treatment of precancerous lesions
  3. Management of 90% of invasive cancer cases.

According to WorldCancerDay.org, only 3% of countries have achieved the first goal of 90% of girls vaccinated against HPV by the age of 15. Curious as to whether Canada was among the 3% of countries, I searched for a Canadian statistic. The 2021 Childhood National Immunization Coverage Survey, published by Statistics Canada in June 2023, notes that, for 14-year-old children, the vaccination rate against HPV was 86% for girls and 81% for boys.

Interestingly, the World Cancer Day spotlight on cervical cancer includes a reference to a Canadian summit on cervical cancer in 2020. In addition to its first summit in February 2020, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) convened a second cervical cancer summit in November 2023 in Halifax. According to the CPAC-led Action Plan for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer in Canada, 2020-2030, Canada has a goal to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.