Strengthening vaccination campaigns against the human papilloma virus (HPV in French, HPV in English) in low-income countries has prevented more than one million deaths from cervical cancer in the past three years, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has announced.
"Over one million deaths from cervical cancer have been averted and an estimated 86 million young girls are now protected from the leading cause of this cancer, thanks to a three-year coordinated effort by GAVI and low-income countries," the alliance said in a statement.
This announcement follows GAVI's relaunch of HPV vaccination in 2023 to protect millions of young women from the leading cause of cervical cancer and prevent over a million deaths.
"Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of countries, partners, civil society and communities, we achieved this goal earlier than anticipated," noted Dr. Sania Nistar, President of the international alliance based on public and private funding to vaccinate children in the poorest countries.
"This collective effort is contributing to major global progress towards the elimination of one of the deadliest diseases for women," as even today "every two minutes, a woman dies of cervical cancer," he continued.
This form of cancer hits hardest in low-income countries, which often lack preventive medicine services and equitable access to treatments. These countries accounted for 90% of the 350,000 cervical cancer deaths recorded in 2022, according to GAVI.
The vaccine against human papillomavirus, the main cause of this form of cancer, is proving to be highly effective, with the death rate limited to 17.4 deaths per 1,000 vaccinated children.
GAVI's efforts have prevented a total of 1.4 million deaths, the alliance estimates. More than 50 countries are moving forward with vaccination campaigns with its support until the end of 2025, and it is precisely those that collectively accounted for 89% of cervical cancer cases worldwide.
In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recommended a one-dose vaccination against HPV, up from two doses previously, thus allowing twice as many girls to be immunized with existing stocks.
