WHO: World marks cervical cancer elimination day as countries accelerate action
Extracts below and a comment from me. Read online: https://www.who.int/news/item/17-11-2025-world-marks-cervical-cancer-eli...
17 November 2025 News release
Today marks the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day – mandated by the World Health Assembly – a historic milestone in global efforts to end a preventable cancer. This day of action builds on powerful momentum, with countries and partners uniting to launch ambitious vaccination campaigns, expand screening and treatment services, and accelerate progress toward eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem.
The annual commemoration highlights a critical opportunity: cervical cancer – the fourth most common cancer in women – claims over 350 000 lives each year, yet it is a disease that we have the tools to eliminate.
The Day supports the core pillars of the WHO’s global elimination strategy: vaccinating 90% of girls against human papillomavirus (HPV), screening 70% of women, and treating 90% of those with pre-cancer and invasive cancer. It serves as a critical platform to strengthen advocacy, accelerate service delivery, and mobilize resources to ensure every woman and girl has access to life-saving care.
"In 2018, I was proud to launch the global call to action on cervical cancer elimination, and I'm even prouder now to see what was once a distant dream becoming a reality," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "More and more countries are scaling up HPV vaccination, improving screening, and expanding treatment, bringing us closer to a future free of cervical cancer."...
COMMENT (NPW): Cervical cancer is preventable and treatable, yet it remains one of the most inequitable cancers. Each year, more than 600,000 women are diagnosed and over 340,000 die, with the vast majority of cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
Four interlinked challenges contribute to persistent gaps in prevention and treatment:
1. Lack of availability of relevant, reliable healthcare information on cervical cancer —Knowledge deficits among women and girls, the general public, health workers and policymakers.
2. Misinformation and Myths — False narratives about HPV vaccination, screening, and treatment result in stigma, reduce vaccine acceptance, and delay care-seeking.
3. Stigma and Structural Barriers — Gender norms, silence around sexuality, distrust of health systems, and inequities in access to reliable healthcare information and health services keep women and communities marginalized.
4. Limited Voice of Communities — Patients, frontline health workers, and civil society leaders often remain underrepresented in local community level, national and global decision-making.
Without addressing these barriers, global elimination targets will remain out of reach.
HIFA has developed a detailed plan for a 6-month Cervical Cancer project to address the above issues. HIFA Projects leverage the HIFA community to explore the issues in depth. ( www.hifa.org/projects ) The project will run for 6 months and will start as soon as we can obtain funding. It is costed at £5-7k and we invite organisational and personal contributions. Co-sponsors are recognised as HIFA Partners with increased visibility and other benefits. If you can help, please contact me: neil@hifa.org
This project has an exciting additional benefit: The outputs of the project will provide a disseases-specific case study for the HIFA-WHO Collaboration Plan 2025-2027. As part of our commitments to WHO as an NGO in official relations, we are committed to:
1. To inform and support WHO’s work to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information [including the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer]
2. To inform WHO's activities when considering the feasibility of a global strategy for universal access to reliable healthcare information [on cervical cancer]
3. To raise awareness and advocate for WHO`s activities in the global evidence ecosystem as part of a global strategy for universal access to reliable healthcare information [on cervical cancer]
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org