Challenges and Opportunities for Global Cervical Cancer Elimination: How Can We Build a Model for Other Cancers?

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Public Health
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Cervical cancer is a significant global health challenge, particularly impacting women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
• Despite effective human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening, global uptake remains uneven, highlighting implementation challenges and access disparities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review state-of-the-art technologies for cervical cancer prevention.
• To examine the efficacy, implementation challenges, and global access disparities of current prevention strategies.
• To explore future directions and innovations for cervical cancer elimination.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature review of current cervical cancer prevention technologies.
• Analysis of efficacy, implementation barriers, and global access to HPV vaccination and HPV DNA testing.
• Exploration of innovative strategies, precision prevention frameworks, and health system strengthening.

Main Results:

• HPV vaccination and DNA testing show high efficacy in reducing cervical cancer incidence but face uneven uptake, especially in LMICs.
• Barriers to access include infrastructure, workforce, sociocultural factors, and competing health priorities.
• Strategies like single-dose vaccination, self-sampling, and screen-and-treat approaches can improve access; precision prevention and AI offer enhanced accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Achieving the World Health Organization's (WHO) cervical cancer elimination targets requires health system strengthening, international collaboration, and supportive policies.
• Innovations in cervical cancer prevention offer a model for improving primary and secondary prevention strategies for other cancers.
• Addressing global disparities in access to HPV vaccination and screening is critical for equitable cervical cancer prevention.