“I felt betrayed by my body,” she told the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of an initiative to eliminate the disease.
Cervical cancer, the fourth most common cancer in women, took Jeanette’s life a year after she was diagnosed. In January each year, Cancer Awareness Month, The WHO emphasizes that the disease can be both prevented and cured.
What is cervical cancer?
Cervical cancer is a reproductive cancer that develops in a woman’s cervix and can spread to other parts of the body if not detected or treated early.
By 2022, an estimated 660,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide, and about 350,000 women died from the disease, according to the WHO.
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Organization, warns that the disease takes the life of a woman every two minutes.
Almost all cases of cervical cancer are associated with infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) – an extremely common virus transmitted through sexual contact.
Most sexually active people will have HPV at some point. In most cases, the immune system clears the virus naturally, but persistent infection with certain cancer-causing types of HPV can cause abnormal cell growth that can eventually develop into cancer.
How can it be prevented or treated?
Cervical cancer can be both prevented and cured with adequate access to screening, vaccination and treatment.
The WHO recommends vaccination for HPV for all girls aged 9-14 before they become sexually active and cervical screening from age 30 (25 for women living with HIV).
Once diagnosed, it is one of the most successful treatments for cancer if detected early and managed effectively.
However, unequal access to prevention and treatment remains a problem, leading to higher incidence and mortality rates in some regions of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia.
The international community is reacting
By 2020, 194 countries launched a global strategy with the goal of eliminating cervical cancer. The day it was launched, November 17, now marks World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.
The strategy sets out three goals to be achieved by 2030:
- 90 percent of the girls to be fully vaccinated for HPV at age 15.
- 70 percent of women to be shielded with a high-performing test at age 35 and again at 45.
- 70 percent of women diagnosed to receive treatment.
The strategy estimates that it will succeed in eliminating cervical cancer could avert 74 million new cases and prevent 62 million deaths before 2120.
[I[1]I only included this because it’s in the header
