Fight against cervical cancer stepped up

A five-year programme to ensure vaccines against cervical cancer reach women in developing countries has been launched by the global non-profit organisation Path.

A staggering 85 per cent of the 270,000 global annual deaths from cervical cancer afflict women in developing countries. Every year an estimated 490,000 women are affected by this preventable disease.

According to GlaxoSmithKline - one of the pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine against HPV - Path will conduct research in India, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam to gather the evidence needed by countries to take informed decisions on how to introduce the vaccine. This exercise will be carried out through a $27.8 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Cervical cancer is mainly caused by the Human Pappiloma Virus (HPV), which can be detected through regular smear tests. Women in developing countries, however, do not always have access to proper health systems.

Clinical trials on two vaccines, one of which is by Merck and Co., were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last week. They have been shown to be 95 per cent effective in preventing persistent HPV infection and 100 per cent effective in preventing certain cervical lesions.