IARC marks Cervical Cancer Awareness Month 2026

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is marking Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. In 2022, more than 660 000 women are estimated to have been diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and about 350 000 women are estimated to have died from the disease.

Most cervical cancer cases and deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Women living in middle-income countries were about twice as likely to develop cervical cancer and 2–4 times as likely to die from the disease than women living in high-income countries. Women living in low-income countries were more than 3 times as likely to develop cervical cancer and almost 9 times as likely to die from the disease than women living in high-income countries.

Cervical cancer accounted for an estimated US$ 26 billion loss in societal contributions from premature cancer deaths due to productivity loss in 2022. In countries with low levels of the Human Development Index (HDI), cervical cancer was the cancer type that led to the greatest productivity loss due to premature cancer deaths in 2022. Limited access to affordable, effective technologies contributes to high rates of death from cervical cancer in low- and middle-income countries. IARC has found thermal ablation to be the most cost-effective treatment option for cervical precancer and recently published an IARC Evidence Summary Brief on this topic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative in November 2020, with the goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2100. To achieve this, all countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of fewer than 4 new cases of cervical cancer per 100 000 women per year. Achieving that goal rests on three key pillars and their corresponding targets:

• Vaccination: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine by the age of 15 years;
• Screening: 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by the age of 35 years, and again by the age of 45 years;
• Treatment: 90% of women with precancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed.

Each country should meet the 90–70–90 targets by 2030 to get on the path towards eliminating cervical cancer by the end of this century. To achieve these targets, countries need trained professionals to screen for, interpret, and treat premalignant lesions. IARC is meeting this need by training health-care providers around the world and recently launched a comprehensive learning programme on screening, diagnosis, and management of cervical precancer in collaboration with the WHO Academy and other WHO partners.

Read IARC Evidence Summary Brief No. 7: Thermal Ablation

Visit the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative page on the WHO website

Read about the new comprehensive learning programme on screening, diagnosis, and management of cervical precancer

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