cervical cancer

A new report released by Women Deliver highlights exciting new partnerships and innovations in cervical cancer prevention and treatment. This report comes at an important time: the GAVI Alliance recently announced its commitment to providing HPV vaccinations for 2 million girls in nine countries by 2015. This is a pivotal milestone in the efforts both to bring global attention to the issue of cervical cancer and to galvanize resources to scale up prevention efforts.

Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer (second to breast cancer) to affect women in South Africa. The most common cancer to affect black women - 31 per cent of all cancers - it is also preventable and treatable. It is associated with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), of which the most prevalent strains are 16 and 18. Cervical cancer also appears to be an opportunistic infection among those living with HIV as it links to a weakened immune system. In South Africa a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer is one in 26. Each year 6 700 women develop cervical cancer while 3 700 die from the disease annually in South Africa.

Promoting reproductive health is a priority issue in South Africa. Many reproductive health services are poorly developed and inaccessible to those most in need. This is reflected by high rates of other largely preventable conditions such as STDs, teenage pregnancy, cervical cancer, unsafe abortion and ill-health related to pregnancy and child birth.