Eliminating cervical cancer: tackling inequity through human papillomavirus (HPV) test self-sampling

Cervical cancer is a disease of inequity with over 90% of diagnoses and deaths occurring in low-, lower-middle- and upper-middle-income countries, reflecting long-term lack of access to and confidence in quality services, especially for cervical screening.1 However, cervical cancer is almost entirely preventable, and new programmatic approaches must be implemented to overcome barriers and increase equity. In 2020, the WHO launched its ‘Global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem’.2 This initiative stems from major leaps in our understanding over the past 50 years of the aetiology of cervical cancer and the recognition that virtually all cervical cancers are caused by persistent infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types. Achieving and maintaining the ‘90-70-90’ targets of the WHO Global Strategy across the pillars of HPV vaccination, screening and treatment, respectively, by 2030 (figure 1) would…

Read the full article ›