Global health donors have pledged a substantial sum of nearly $600 million to combat cervical cancer, marking the first-ever global forum solely dedicated to eradicating this disease.
The World Bank, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UNICEF, issued a joint statement, outlining their commitment to utilizing these funds for the expansion of worldwide access to vaccination, screening, and treatment.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), emphasized that despite possessing the knowledge and tools to eliminate cervical cancer, existing programs are not yet operating at the necessary scale.
The $600 million donation
The Global Cervical Cancer Elimination forum, hosted in Cartagena, Colombia, serves as a pivotal platform for change, fostering commitments from governments and global health partners to collaboratively address and ultimately end this disease.
- The WHO’s endorsement of countries transitioning from a two or three-dose vaccination strategy to a one-dose approach aims to extend protection to more girls.
- Countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, have pledged to swiftly introduce this shot.
- The World Bank’s commitment of $400 million over three years, complemented by $180 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $10 million from UNICEF, underscores a significant step towards global cervical cancer eradication.
What you should know
Cervical cancer claims a woman’s life approximately every two minutes, with a staggering 90% of these cases occurring in low and middle-income countries.
- The challenges in these regions include limited access to preventative vaccines, as well as screening and treatment facilities.
- This stands in stark contrast to many high-income countries that implemented the vaccine in the 2000s, providing protection against the human papillomavirus virus (HPV), a major contributor to cervical cancers globally.
