On the first-ever World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a strong call to South-East Asian nations to intensify efforts against cervical cancer, as the region continues to carry nearly 25% of the global burden.
WHO reported that in 2022 alone, the region saw 1.6 lakh new cervical cancer cases and 1 lakh deaths even though the disease is one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer.
Dr. Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge of WHO South-East Asia, emphasized that a woman dies from cervical cancer every two minutes worldwide. She urged countries to speed up progress toward the 2030 elimination goals: ensuring 90% HPV vaccination coverage for girls by age 15, screening 70% of women at 35 and 45 with high-quality tests, and providing treatment to 90% of women diagnosed with pre-cancer or cancer.
While some countries are moving ahead Bhutan has already met all 2030 targets, Thailand’s Cancer Anywhere initiative is improving access to care, eight nations have rolled out HPV vaccination nationwide, and six run population-wide screening programmes overall vaccination, screening, and treatment rates still lag behind WHO’s expectations. Quality of care also varies significantly across the region.
To bridge these gaps, WHO urged countries to quickly expand HPV vaccination through affordable single-dose options, strengthen screening by integrating it with reproductive health services and offering self-sampling, and improve referral and treatment pathways to ensure timely and multidisciplinary care. It also encouraged governments to include comprehensive cervical cancer services under universal health coverage.
This year marks the first global observance of World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day, established after a 2025 World Health Assembly resolution dedicated to ending cervical cancer as a public health threat.
WHO cautioned that without urgent action, the progress achieved so far could stall and reiterated its call for countries to step up efforts so that no woman dies from cervical cancer or any other preventable disease.