The Calling Revisited

Summary

Doing away with cervical cancer worldwide turns out to be far more nuanced and difficult than it first appears. Despite the body’s ability to shed itself relatively easily of HPV and cervical pre-cancer, hundreds of thousands of persons with cervixes are dying and will continue to die. Too many have suffered already. The losses of these individuals strike a devasting blow, reverberating beyond families and through the heart of communities, tearing gashes in our social fabric – we are not built to lose so many women in the prime of their lives. Thankfully, we have what it takes: enough insight and tolerance to shift priorities and beliefs about preventing and treating a “woman’s cancer.” We have enough skills, resources, and determination to educate the world about the importance of cervical cancer prevention. We have enough disease-fighting resources to share with the people and places that need them most. We have enough to stop wasting women’s lives and begin treasuring them instead. We can take the exasperated cry of “enough” and use it to fuel our collective capacity to free the world of a disease that need no longer exist. We have enough to stop cervical cancer.