WHO last week highlighted progress in the global elimination of cervical cancer, celebrating South Africa and India for their progress.
Following human papillomavirus awareness day on 4 March 2026, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said: “Another powerful tool that is changing the face of public health is the HPV vaccine which, together with screening and treatment, is giving the world hope of eliminating cervical cancer.
“In 2018, I issued a global call for action to eliminate cervical cancer, which was followed in 2020 by a Global Strategy with the 90-70-90 targets: 90% of girls vaccinated; 70% of women screened; and 90% of women with cervical cancer or pre-cancerous lesions treated, all by 2030.
“Since then, nearly 60 countries have introduced HPV vaccination, and 162 countries now include the vaccine as part of their national immunisation schedules.
Today we are proud to celebrate two countries that are making major progress towards cervical cancer elimination: India and South Africa.”
India
India last week announced the largest free HPV vaccination campaign in history, targeting almost 12 million 14-year-old girls every year.
Minister JP Nadda, India’s Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, said on Thursday: “On 28 February 2026, honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide HPV vaccine campaign.
“India has joined the community of 160 countries in the global fight against cervical cancer.
“This vaccination campaign is being carried out over 90 days and follows a single dose schedule, as recommended by WHO and the National Technical Advisory Group of Immunization.”
Every year, more than 127,000 women in India are diagnosed with cervical cancer and around 80,000 die from it.
Minister Nadda continued: “Recognising the gravity of this issue, India has committed itself to a comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing the burden of cervical cancer.
“This strategy includes screening for cervical cancer, now available at 181,000 health and wellness centres across the country as a part of population-based screening for early detection and treatment.”
More than 86 million women have now been screened under this initiative.
South Africa
Cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among South African women, with more than 11,000 cases and nearly 6,000 deaths per year.
Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa committed to ensuring every girl between 9-years-old and 14-years-old receives an HPV vaccine.
Minister of Health for South Africa, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, said: “Given such a high rate of mortality and morbidity, South Africa will strengthen and accelerate the implementation of the strategy for the elimination of cervical cancer.
“In the next few weeks, we will officially launch a campaign for the elimination of cervical cancer using the Global Strategy adopted by the World Health Organization, with a target of 90-70-90.”
Following the emergence of a body of research finding that a single dose of HPV vaccine is sufficient to elicit an immune response that offers protection similar to that of a multidose regimen against initial and persistent HPV infection, WHO endorsed a single-dose vaccination for women and girls aged 9-20-years-old.
Dr Motsoaledi continued: “We are very grateful to start the one-dose vaccination campaign.
“Because of shortage of money, we were only targeting public schools in the Republic.
“We have taken a decision that now we’ll go to even private schools and independent schools to reach more girls, because now we’ve got more doses.
“We have already started, in TV adverts around the country, to announce our decision for the campaign to eliminate cervical cancer.
“We are so serious about this programme that we’ve decided that the launch must be headed by the President.
“It’s no longer the Minister of Health who is going to launch this campaign to end cervical cancer.
“It will be the President himself.”
Featured image: InfiniteFlow on Adobe Stock
