Cervical Cancer Initiative news

UICC has developed a new strategic plan for its Cervical Cancer Initiative (CCI). Its mission is to eliminate cervical cancer as a life threatening condition through decisive coordination with UICC members, global and regional partners, and the mobilisation of resources in support of effective national responses.

The initiative will promote strategic alliances in order to get cervical cancer on the political agenda, integrated into health services, education and financing. With an over arching aim to encourage participation from civil society groups  through a joint mobilisation effort for evidence-based interventions in countries with the highest level of incidence and mortality.

The Initiative will be developed in a phased approach, starting in Latin America and the Caribbean (phase 1), Eastern Europe (phase 2) and Asia (phase 3).

The two priority areas to be addressed include:

• Working with civil society organisations (CSOs) involved in women- and youth-related issues to integrate cervical cancer in their agenda on education, service provision and advocacy and
• Enhancing the mobilisation of resources for cervical cancer programmes, by generating information on the actual cost of scaling up programmes in specific countries and strengthening the advocacy arguments for this purpose.

Why work with civil society?

What is missing at the moment is a critical mass of civil society organisations taking part in cervical cancer service provision, community education and advocacy. Womens’ groups, reproductive health groups, adolescent networks, professional groups, patient organisations, women rights groups and disease specific organisations are out of the picture regarding cervical cancer priorities and actions. To date, the agenda of many CSOs already working in youth or health related issues do not include cervical cancer, thus wasting valuable opportunities for cervical cancer control among women, adolescents and the children they serve. The same population targeted by these CSOs should receive information about HPV and cervical cancer, be vaccinated against HPV, screened for pre-cancerous lesions and treated as necessary.

Why strengthen the cervical cancer argumentation with actual costs information?

Understanding the magnitude of the financial investment needed to support comprehensive cervical cancer prevention efforts at country level is key to generating information for advocacy and action to mobilise the necessary resources. The evidence of cervical cancer being preventable is strong so an effort to move the needed resources to achieve impact has to be orchestrated. Expanding and sustaining cervical cancer programmes will require new investments i.e. delivering the HPV vaccine will add costs to existing vaccination programs. Decision makers need country level information to plan for the financial investments required to expand current cervical cancer control programmes. Having this data will help advocate for, and mobilise, the necessary resources and would allow the global community, donors, and countries to assess the feasibility, affordability and impact of a strategic mix of interventions for cervical cancer control.

If you need further information or want to get involved in UICC’s Cervical Cancer Initiative please contact cervicalcancer@uicc.org.