Bulletin of the World Health Organization | June 9, 2013
Read the PublicationEvery year cervical cancer kills an average of 275,000 women and five sixths of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the incidence of cervical cancer and breast cancer is no higher than in other parts of the world, but the risk of death among women with either disease is much higher than in high-income countries – eight times higher in the case of cervical cancer – because African women face enormous barriers to treatment. If case-fatality is to be reduced, access to primary prevention, screening, treatment and palliative care will need to be facilitated and women’s cancers will have to be prioritized in countries’ health agendas.