UICC's actions on cervical cancer

Following the call to action to eliminate cervical cancer in 2018, by the World Health Organization Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UICC directly supported WHO’s efforts to conceive, draft and present the Global Strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem, which was launched on 17 November 2020.

Since then, UICC has been part of the WHO-led Cervical Cancer Elimination initiative, committed to supporting and working with its diverse and global membership to assist countries in achieving the 90:70:90 targets for vaccination, screening and treatment, and continuing to maintain a spotlight on cervical cancer elimination, leveraging its global platforms and harness its convening role across sectors to drive global impact.

In fulfilment of these commitments, UICC is delivering and provides a series of activities, opportunities and projects, working with partners, members and organisations around the world to support collective progress towards the 2030 targets.

Supporting the cancer community

UICC is supporting its members and national organisations in their respective efforts to advance cervical cancer elimination in their context, and offers the following opportunities.

• Training and learning: UICC offers 'The Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative foundational course' on UICC Connect. This online course provides essential knowledge on the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative and its Global Strategy for the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem. It helps participants understand the key components of the strategy, strengthen their capacity to take action, and support implementation efforts at national and regional levels.
• Advocacy: UICC has developed a Cervical Cancer Advocacy Handbook, which serves as a practical guide to support civil society organisations (CSOs) and patient groups in advocating for comprehensive cervical cancer prevention, screening, and treatment services, in line with the WHO Global Strategy to eliminate cervical cancer and the latest recommendations since its launch. The handbook is available in English, French, and Spanish.
• Technical skills and knowledge: UICC leverages its established Fellowships programme to enable individuals to visit another organisations to learn from their experience and develop specialist skills and knowledge in cervical cancer.
• Communications: To assist members around the world in reaching out to media outlets and the public in their countries, UICC prepares news releases, videos, infographics, important documents, social media cards, toolkits, and other resources that are available in the cervical cancer resource hub.
• Networking: To foster collaboration and knowledge sharing, UICC has created the Cervical Cancer Elimination Room on UICC Connect, a dedicated online space that brings together professionals working in cervical cancer elimination to connect, exchange insights, and support one another. Members can share experiences, access learning opportunities, and stay informed about the latest developments in the field.
• Raising awareness: Since 2025, UICC has been celebrating World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day each year on 17 November, marking the anniversary of the WHO’s Global Strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem. UICC also actively supports Cervical Cancer Awareness Month every January, helping raise visibility and encourage global action to prevent and eliminate cervical cancer.
• Regional Dialogues: In 2022-2023 UICC has organised and leveraged its in-person regional meetings to facilitate discussions and learning across its network on the implementation of the Global Strategy, enabling the sharing of experiences across organisations and individuals working in similar contexts.
• Virtual Dialogues: UICC provides opportunities for individuals from its network to exchange knowledge, experiences and learning across UICC’s community on this topic.
• Project grants: Ten UICC member organisations working in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe received grants to address the various barriers to HPV vaccination that exist where they operate.

Driving global impact

In addition, UICC also leverages its global role to raise the profile of key topics within cervical cancer, including engaging in and supporting collaborative efforts, showcasing and highlighting key topics and progress at its global events - the World Cancer Congress, the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit – through its communication channels, and its advocacy work.

• Publications:  UICC has published a series of reports on regional or topical challenges to elimination to inform action. These include analyses on the situation in Africa, the global and national opportunities to finance elimination, and the role of civil society in HPV vaccination. UICC has also developed a Cervical Cancer Advocacy Handbook, a practical guide supporting civil society organisations and patient groups in advocating for comprehensive cervical cancer prevention, screening, and treatment services.
• Collaboration: UICC also helped to establish the Commonwealth taskforce in May 2021. The taskforce aims to encourage and facilitate cooperation between Commonwealth countries, and support progress towards the 90:70:90 goals outlined in the Global Strategy. As part of this collaboration, the publication 'Conquering Cervical Cancer in the Commonwealth: Addressing Myths and Misconceptions' was developed to respond to misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, providing evidence-based messages to strengthen cervical cancer prevention and control efforts.

Focus areas

Through its activities above, UICC has brought particular attention to the following topics, although recognising and emphasising across all of these the importance of a holistic approach to elimination, addressing all three pillars of the Strategy.

Primary prevention

Building on current momentum to accelerate access and coverage of the HPV vaccine, UICC has conducted a landscaping to explore and increase understanding of the role played by local CSOs in order to further support efforts to increase access to and uptake of HPV vaccination.

Secondary prevention

As a consortium partner in the SUCCESS project (Scale-up Cervical Cancer Elimination with Secondary prevention Strategy)  from 2019-2023, funded by Unitaid, and led by Expertise France, UICC worked together with Jhpiego to intensify cervical cancer secondary prevention in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guatemala and the Philippines. The SUCCESS project focused upon the implementation and scale-up of innovative technologies (HPV testing, thermal ablation, self-collection) for secondary prevention of cervical cancer. As per the activities described above, UICC leveraged all its platforms and opportunities to support global progress. UICC has built on the investment in these countries to develop, refine and share resources with its wider and global community and contributed to reaching the milestone of a million women screened in LMICs.

Access to treatment and palliative care

UICC is supporting national advocacy across the cervical cancer elimination agenda, including improving access to treatment and palliative care. Specifically, UICC is supporting the Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC). As part of EPICC, UICC will provide expertise, networks, and tailored support to civil society through its Cancer Advocates programme. This collaboration aims to strengthen national advocacy for cervical cancer elimination, with a special focus on improving access to treatment and palliative care in the region. 

Financing for elimination

A critical enabling factor to achieve elimination, UICC has commissioned a series of reports, by Thinkwell and the Economist Intelligence Unit, bringing attention to the opportunities and challenges involved in securing financing for elimination, both at the global and national level. These reports bring concrete insights for civil society organisations and key in-country stakeholders to inform evidence-based policy dialogues and to empower them to advocate for the integration of cervical cancer interventions into national health financing frameworks, and within the context of UHC.