Over 40 countries sponsor WHO Executive Board item on acceleration of cervical cancer elimination 

Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, the European Union and its Member States, India, Kenya, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, United States and Uruguay and in the session, also e-Swatini and South Africa.

See UICC statement here.

Member States showed overwhelming support for the elimination ambition and passed the decision. Key issues raised in discussion were:

• Dominantly, the bottleneck in the supply of HPV vaccine and the affordability
• Requests for public information and maintaining vaccine confidence
• Technical assistance for scaling screening services as well as the treatment and palliative care capacities
• Financial support for the high-burden countries to make the right investments

Actions for UICC Members following the WHO Executive Board support:

• Share the information on elimination with your Ministry contacts. In addition to the Ministry of Health, consider child, women’s health, reproductive health, HIV and community ministries/departments
• Head of State support is key to the long-term commitment that elimination will require. See webinar for more details
• Share January commitment by Malaysia to elimination, making a public commitment to energise the population and build relationships with the media link to a news feature
• March-July 2019: Regional consultations being scheduled now – get an invitation and let your government know and make sure they are contributing
• How can we help your government make a commitment to elimination?

How to be more involved in our collective advocacy efforts?

• Join the advocacy network working on mapping access to vaccination, screening and pre-cancer treatment as well as diagnosis, treatment and care of invasive cervical cancer.
• We are seeking country rapporteurs to confirm the current status in their own countries – more details or register interest with torode@uicc.org
• Share any of your cervical cancer World Cancer Day activities or other news with us
• Check out the IARC World Cancer Day website and twitter account for infographics and a focus on the safety of the HPV vaccine