2 - The Vision

Summary

Aversion to the highly effective HPV vaccine has hobbled the global fight against cervical cancer. Nearly twenty years after introducing this vaccine – which, when given to young girls before they have sex, extinguishes the virus causing most forms of cervical cancer – many higher-income countries are reluctant to make sweeping use of its powers. In lower-income countries, high costs and low supplies have obstructed access to HPV vaccination. As a result, despite the combination of the HPV vaccine and cervical screening to eliminate cancer by catching or curing pre-cancer and early cancer, cervical cancer kills more persons with cervixes every year. In the absence of a significant intervention, the World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, nearly 700,000 women will be diagnosed yearly with cervical cancer – and 400,000 of those persons with cervixes will die. But there is no reason to lose hope. The very potency of the scientific tools currently available for cervical cancer prevention, along with a public commitment toward eliminating this disease, offers us the means to do away with this cancer for good.