When women talk about their ordeal with cervical cancer, I first hear gratitude that they survived. And then I hear frustration and fury that an almost entirely preventable cancer remains a continued and escalating threat. A woman is diagnosed with cervical cancer nearly every minute and dies every 90 seconds. By the time you read this article, someone somewhere will have lost a mother, wife, daughter, or sister to this vicious disease.
Cervical cancer should be akin to smallpox and polio by now — maladies seen more in history books than in modern-day medical clinics. After all, we have an extremely effective vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV — the virus that causes more than 95% of all cervical cancer cases. The vaccine has been shown to be safe time and again, having been administered 500 million times since regulators approved it nearly 20 years ago.
But uptake of vaccination and screening is hampered by inequity, stigma, and lack of information. January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and now is the time for action on cervical cancer elimination.
About the author
Anuradha Gupta
Anuradha Gupta joined the Sabin Vaccine Institute in October 2022 as president of global immunization. A veteran public health leader, Anuradha has in her previous roles spearheaded a host of successful global initiatives to improve the health of women and children and harness the full power of vaccines. Her work has created a profound impact at a global scale, saving and improving millions of lives. Prior to Sabin, Anuradha spent several years at Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, as its deputy CEO.
