“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 among women, took Jeanette’s life a year after her diagnosis. Every January is Cancer Awareness Month. WHO emphasizes that the disease is both preventable and curable.
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.
In 2022, an estimated 660,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and around 350,000 women will die from it, according to the WHO.
UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, warns that the disease takes the life of a woman every two minutes.
Almost all cases of cervical cancer are linked to infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), an extremely common virus transmitted through sexual contact.
Most sexually active people will get HPV at some point. In most cases, the immune system eliminates 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 we prevent or treat it?
Cervical cancer is both preventable and curable with adequate access to screening, vaccination and treatment.
The WHO recommends HPV vaccination for all girls aged 9 to 14, before they become sexually active, as well as cervical screening starting at age 30 (age 25 for women living with HIV).
Once diagnosed, it is one of the most treatable forms of 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 reacts
In 2020, 194 countries launched a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer. The day of its launch, November 17, now marks World Day to Eliminate Cervical Cancer.
The strategy sets three objectives to be achieved by 2030:
- 90 percent of girls will be fully vaccinated for HPV before the age of 15.
- 70 percent of women will be filtered with a high performance test at age 35 and again at age 45.
- 70 percent of women diagnosed will receive treatment.
The strategy believes that successfully eliminating cervical cancer could prevent 74 million new cases and prevent 62 million deaths by 2120.
[I[1]I only included this because it’s in the title
