European Cervical Cancer Prevention week is starting today, the 17th of January 2022. We would like to take the opportunity to make you aware of some of the facts surrounding Cervical Cancer.

In 2020, an estimated 604,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide, and about 342,000 women died from the disease. The main cause of cervical cancer is persistent infection with high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), an extremely common family of viruses that are transmitted through sexual contact. Vaccines exist that protect against high-risk HPV types, allowing for effective treatment and management of the condition.

This means that cervical cancer should be one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer. To eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem, all countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of fewer than 4 new cases of cervical cancer per 100,000 women per year. Achieving that goal rests on three key pillars and their corresponding targets:

• Vaccination: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15 years.

• Screening: 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by the age of 35 years, and again by the age of 45 years.

• Treatment: 90% of women with pre-cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed.

Each country should meet these targets by 2030 to get on the path towards eliminating cervical cancer by the end of this century.