Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. The World Health Organization has estimated that each year over 500,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and over 300,000 women will die of the disease. Cervical cancer is caused by a chronic infection with high-risk subtypes of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Two of these high-risk subtypes cause more than sixty percent of cervical cancers globally.
The impact of the widespread adoption of the HPV vaccination in Mexico showed that it could potentially drop the cases of cervical cancer by 59 percent. They showed that the biggest impact would be to girls given the vaccination at the age of ten.
Dr. Adriana Bermudez, who is a professor of gynecologic oncology and vice president elect of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, says "This study shows the potential impact of the new prophylactic HPV vaccines in the Americas. We will need a major public-private partnership to make these vaccines available to the girls and women of the Americas, as well as a major educational campaign to alert parents to the importance of protecting their daughters from cervical cancer."
The International Gynecologic Cancer Society is a non-profit professional society with 1200 members from 80 countries dedicated to reducing the global burden of women's cancers through education and research.
