ASIATODAY.ID, GENEVA — While the world debates pandemics and emerging diseases, a far deadlier killer continues to claim women’s lives in silence. Every two minutes, a woman dies from cervical cancer, according to the United Nations — a disease that global health authorities insist is both preventable and curable.
Jeanette was just 31 when she received her diagnosis. Questions flooded her mind: would she still be able to have children? Would early menopause steal her future?
“I felt betrayed by my body,” she told the World Health Organization (WHO). A year later, cervical cancer took her life.
Her story is tragically common.
A Preventable Cancer Still Killing Hundreds of Thousands
Cervical cancer is now the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide, developing in the cervix and spreading rapidly if not detected early.
According to WHO data, around 660,000 women were diagnosed in 2022, and approximately 350,000 died the same year.
UNICEF warns that the disease continues to rob women of their lives at a shocking pace — one death every two minutes globally.
Nearly all cervical cancer cases are linked to human papillomavirus (HPV), a highly common virus transmitted through sexual contact. While most infections clear naturally, persistent exposure to certain high-risk HPV types can trigger abnormal cell growth that evolves into cancer.
Vaccines, Screening, Treatment — Yet Inequality Persists
Health experts stress that cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and treatable cancers — but only when women have access to care.
WHO recommends:
– HPV vaccination for girls aged 9–14, before sexual activity begins
– Cervical screening from age 30 (or 25 for women living with HIV)
– Early treatment upon diagnosis, which dramatically improves survival rates
However, unequal access to healthcare remains a deadly barrier. Mortality rates are disproportionately high in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia, where vaccines, screening tools, and treatment services are often limited or unavailable.
Global Pledge: End Cervical Cancer for Good
In 2020, 194 countries adopted a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer, marking November 17 as World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.
The plan sets three ambitious targets for 2030:
– 90% of girls fully vaccinated against HPV by age 15
– 70% of women screened by age 35 and again at 45
– 70% of diagnosed women treated
If fully implemented, the UN estimates the strategy could prevent 74 million new cases and avert 62 million deaths by 2120.
A Silent Crisis Demanding Urgent Action
Despite scientific breakthroughs and proven solutions, cervical cancer continues to kill quietly — largely because prevention and treatment do not reach the women who need them most.
As WHO underscores during Cancer Awareness Month, no woman should die from a disease the world already knows how to stop.
The question, global health leaders warn, is no longer whether cervical cancer can be eliminated — but how long the world will wait before acting decisively. (AT Network)
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