Eradicating cervical cancer

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of death for women in low-and middle-income countries.1 This situation is unacceptable because cervical cancer has been shown to be one of the preventable cancers. Cervical cancer is caused by human papilloma virus (HPV), which is an infectious agent. The pathogenesis of cervical cancer begins with HPV infection and then slowly progresses to a premalignant disease of the cervix, before developing into an invasive disease. This pathogenesis clearly shows that there are many stages and enough time to detect the disease at an early stage and thereby prevent the development of invasive cancer. There are also proven methods of curing cervical cancer if it is detected at the earliest stages of the disease. Cervical cancer is neither a common disease nor a leading cause of death in high-income countries because their health systems have effective measures in place to prevent, detect, and treat the condition. These facts are part of the reason why the World Health Organization (WHO) is leading a campaign to eradicate cervical cancer.2 FIGO is playing an active role in furthering this campaign, and in 2018 launched a joint global declaration on the elimination of cervical cancer with WHO and UNFPA.3 Infectious diseases such as polio have been successfully eradicated from many parts of the world,4 and there are some low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) that have been able to eradicate malaria.5 It is therefore understandable that WHO should take on the task of eliminating cervical cancer, which could be considered an infectious disease.