January was observed as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. Additionally, every year, March 4 is observed as International HPV Awareness Day.
Protecting women’s health includes protecting the cervix, the lower-most part of the uterus. With HPV vaccination, we can prevent cervical cancers that can seriously affect a woman’s health. As the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide, cervical cancer claims the lives of more than 3,00,000 women every year, or one life every two minutes. Nine out of 10 women dying of cervical cancer live in lower- and middle-income countries. In India, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer after breast cancer. Given the country’s population size, about 500 million women above the age of 15 are at risk of cervical cancer. If there is no action taken, the number of cases and deaths from cervical cancer are projected to rise significantly in the future. With the current population growth rate, the absolute number of new cases of cervical cancer for all ages in India in 2040 is estimated to be 1,91,347 — an increase of 54% over the number of new cases reported in 2020.
