By James Kisoo ,
GENEVA, Switzerland, Today marks the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day – mandated by the World Health Assembly – a historic milestone in global efforts to end a preventable cancer. This day of action builds on powerful momentum, with countries and partners uniting to launch ambitious vaccination campaigns, expand screening and treatment services, and accelerate progress toward eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem.
The annual commemoration highlights a critical opportunity: cervical cancer – the fourth most common cancer in women – claims over 350 000 lives each year, yet it is a disease that we have the tools to eliminate.
The Day supports the core pillars of the WHO’s global elimination strategy: vaccinating 90% of girls against human papillomavirus (HPV), screening 70% of women, and treating 90% of those with pre-cancer and invasive cancer. It serves as a critical platform to strengthen advocacy, accelerate service delivery, and mobilize resources to ensure every woman and girl has access to life-saving care.
“In 2018, I was proud to launch the global call to action on cervical cancer elimination, and I’m even prouder now to see what was once a distant dream becoming a reality,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “More and more countries are scaling up HPV vaccination, improving screening, and expanding treatment, bringing us closer to a future free of cervical cancer.”
This momentum is underscored by the announcement from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and its partners, who estimate that the ambitious goal to reach 86Â million girls by the end of 2025 has been met, reflecting a broader wave of country action to advance national elimination plans and expand access to screening and treatment.
Countries are marking World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day with a wave of actions on multiple fronts. Vaccination is scaling up through campaigns in Sierra Leone and Liberia targeting over 1.5Â million girls. Screening efforts are also intensifying, with Sierra Leone planning a mass campaign across all 16 districts, followed by an awareness walk. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, advocacy is taking center stage as survivors lead a week-long promotion of self-sampling HPV testing, a key innovation for expanding screening access.
This past year has seen significant country-level action, providing a powerful foundation for the new annual commemoration.
- Angola: Launched an HPV vaccination campaign in October for girls aged 9–12 years.
- China: Added HPV vaccine into its national immunization programme, scaling up vaccination to all 13-year-old girls.
- Cuba: Launched HPV vaccination in October 2025 for all girls in Grade 4.
- Ghana: Held a nationwide vaccination campaign in October 2025 for girls aged 9–14 years, aiming to reach 2.4 million girls.
- Indonesia: Hosted the Second Global Forum for Cervical Cancer Elimination and reaffirmed its commitment to eliminating cervical cancer by 2030 through bold national targets (90-75-90), a strong partnership ecosystem, and substantial investments in vaccination, screening, and treatment under its National Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan 2023–2030.
- Nepal: Ran a nationwide HPV vaccination campaign targeting girls aged 10–14 years in February 2025, to mark the introduction of the HPV vaccine in the national immunization schedule.
- Nigeria: Launched a nationwide cervical cancer elimination effort, with the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu committing US$ 700 000 through the ‘Renewed Hope Initiative’. The investment further affirms Nigeria’s leadership and support for WHO’s elimination targets, reflected also in its co-leadership of the resolution establishing World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.
- Pakistan: Launched the national HPV vaccine introduction through a campaign targeting girls aged 9–14, reaching over 9 million girls in what is to date the largest single HPV campaign any country has every conducted.
- Rwanda: Through Mission 2027, its Accelerated Plan for Elimination, the country is rapidly expanding nationwide screening and treatment services to meet the 90-70-90 targets by 2027, three years ahead of the global goal.
- Spain: Through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Spain’s three-year investment is supporting the WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative to strengthen access to HPV vaccination, screening, and treatment in countries of the WHO African and Eastern Mediterranean Regions.
- South Africa: Placed cervical cancer elimination on the global stage as part of its G20 health agenda, reaffirming the country’s steadfast support for the WHO Global Strategy. The country also co-led the resolution establishing World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day and is finalizing its National Strategic Framework for Cervical Cancer Elimination, to be launched later this year.
- Tajikistan: Launched HPV vaccination for all girls aged 10–14 years in its routine immunization schedule from October 2025.
- Tunisia: Introduced the HPV vaccine into its routine immunization programme for 12-year-old girls in April 2025.
- Across WHO Western Pacific Region, Unitaid and WHO have expanded their partnership to strengthen cervical cancer prevention and treatment programmes, supporting equitable access to screening and treatment services for precancer.
Countries worldwide are accelerating efforts to expand access to HPV vaccination, screening, and treatment, advancing toward the 90-70-90 targets of the Global Strategy.
SOURCE: World Health Organization (WHO)
