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New Delhi: High-income countries are on track to eliminate cervical cancer — preventable through vaccination and screening — by 2048, while low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will see only slight reductions over the next century, according to a study published in The Lancet journal.
As a result, the gap between regions will widen dramatically, with women in LMICs facing much higher rates of this preventable disease, researchers, including those from CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval Research Center in Canada, said.
Almost all cervical cancer cases (99 per cent) are linked to infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV), an extremely common virus transmitted through sexual contact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cervical cancer is largely preventable through HPV vaccination and regular screening, it says.
The United Nations’ health agency has set an elimination target of an incidence rate of under four cases per one lakh women.
Each country should meet ’90-70-90′ targets by 2030 — 90 per cent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage among girls by age 15, 70 per cent of women screened by age 35 and then 45, and 90 per cent of women with pre-cancer and cancer treated — to be on track to eliminate cervical cancer within the next century, the WHO says.
The researchers said that reaching WHO vaccination and screening elimination targets for HPV or introducing universal vaccination with high coverage is necessary to eliminate cervical cancer in LMICs, which would substantially attenuate worldwide inequalities.
Achieving the WHO’s 90-70-90 goals could avert 37 million cervical cancer cases over the next century and accelerate progress toward elimination, they said.
However, the models suggest that many LMICs are unlikely to reach these targets without increased investment in elimination efforts, the team said.
The researchers modelled five HPV prevention strategies for LMICs, including a ‘status quo’ scenario.
“Under the status quo, the model projected that cervical cancer incidence in LMICs would decrease by only 23 per cent while HICs would reach elimination by 2048, leading to substantial increases in inequalities,” the authors wrote.
“Reaching 90 per cent vaccination coverage among girls in LMICs would reduce these inequalities and lead to elimination in LMICs outside sub-Saharan Africa,” they said.
The authors said that recent advancements, such as lower-cost and single-dose vaccines, expanded screening programmes.
Multi-age cohort vaccinations and efforts to include boys in vaccination campaigns can help make cervical cancer elimination feasible worldwide, they said.
However, global, coordinated efforts from governments and international health agencies are required, the team said.
A September 2022 study published in The Lancet Oncology journal projected that a single-dose vaccination with a long-lasting protection and 90 per cent coverage could prevent up to 78 per cent of cases of cervical cancer among the vaccinated birth cohorts across India.
States with high cervical cancer incidence could see the greatest relative reduction in cases, it estimated. PTI
