Cervical Cancer Awareness

Throughout January, we observe Cervical Cancer Awareness Month (CCAM) as a time to raise awareness of the problem and magnify our support of the World Health Organization (WHO) global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem.

The Problem
Cervical cancer is preventable, yet in 2020, an estimated 604 000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and about 342 000 women died from the disease.

The Solution
The World Health Organization’s global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem includes a roadmap that 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 HPV vaccine by the age of 15 years (its recommended that boys be vaccinated as well)
• 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

Our Work
IGCS supports the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative to reduce the incidence of and mortality from cervical cancer by:

• Providing mentorship and training to healthcare professionals who care for women with preinvasive disease and cervical cancer.
  • Gynecologic Oncology Global Curriculum
  • Project ECHO Virtual Tumor Boards, including multidisciplinary mentoring
  • Preinvasive Cervical Disease Training Program
• Developing professional education for those who manage patients with cervical cancer including these specific courses found in the Education360 Learning Portal
  • IGCS 2022 Annual Global Meeting Master Session: Cervical Cancer – Paving the Way to a Treatment Shift in Cervical Cancer
  • Updates in the Management of Cervical Cancer (recordings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese)
  • Management of Cervical Cancer Preinvasive Disease in Pregnancy: A Surgical Film
• Patient advocacy programming and networking
  • Programming to address growing needs for survivorship care (global assessment currently in development)
  • Community-building and information sharing through the End Cervical Cancer What's App Group
  • Annual Survivor-Caregiver Summit
  • Global Patient Perspectives Roundtable Series
  • International Gynecologic Cancer Advocacy Network 

Download and share these cervical cancer facts as far and wide as you can. Click each image to open, then save to your device or download them all from Google Drive here. 

In this special presentation, cervical cancer survivor Hallie Saunders discusses her diagnoses with Dr. Wendel Naumann, the gynecologic oncologist who managed her treatment. Dr. Naumann is the co-chair of the IGCS Education360 Advances and Updates Work group on our Education Committee and the Associate Medical Director of Clinical Trials at the Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health in North Carolina, USA.

Hallie agreed to share her story and wants women to know how important it is to pay attention to your health and to get vaccinated against HPV.

This presentation is sponsored by Seagen.

View all cervical cancer related education on IGCS Education360 Learning Portal.

We can all play a part in spreading education and awareness in service of these goals and every bit of knowledge spread can make a difference. Not only do communities and the public benefit from awareness and the destigmatization of HPV and cervix cancer, but those who influence policy and those working within health care systems must be equipped with this knowledge and resources as well.