Cervical Cancer - prevention
Women don’t need to die of cervical cancer because the disease develops slowly, after initial infection with
the human papillomavirus. Unlike most other types of cancer, it is preventable when precursor lesions are
detected and treated.
But millions of women around the world are never screened for cervical cancer—whether because of the
long journey to the nearest clinic, local myths and fears about cervical screening, or poor health services.
The result is that a half-million new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year, with a quarter-
million women dying from the disease.
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the majority of
developing countries
and the second most common cancer among women worldwide especially
in India.
Half a million women a year develop cervical cancer worldwide.
Each year, cervical cancer causes over 250,000 deaths approx worldwide .
Women in developing countries account for about 85% of both the annual cases of cervical
cancer and the annual deaths from cervical cancer
Incidence and mortality of cervical cancer vary according to age, reaching a peak in women aged around
40 years
The age distribution of cervical cancer is pyramidal with a higher percentage of younger women being
diagnosed with precancer symptoms and invasive disease. These women remain undetected for many years
because of lack of opportunistic screening of hospital-visiting women for cervical precancer abnormalities,
and thus become major contributors for higher rate of women mortality and morbidity when presented to
the clinicians with the early—to advanced stages of invasive carcinomas. Not only the cost of treating such
patients by radical surgeries or chemo-radiotherapies is enormous but also the success rate is very poor.
These patients keep adding to the new cases every year posing a continuous challenge to healthcare
professionals and the government GDP annually.
Screening for cervical cancer by a ve