New Toolkit Provides Resources to Improve Data and Support Global Cervical Cancer Prevention Efforts
Cervical cancer is preventable and treatable, so why is it the fourth most common cancer in women with an estimated 570,000 new cases last year?
In 2018, cervical cancer represented 7.5 percent of all female cancer deaths. Of the more than 311,000 estimated deaths from cervical cancer every year, about 85 percent occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
Tragically, most women who get cervical cancer have not been screened. When identified early and managed effectively, cervical cancer is both preventable and treatable. The high mortality rate from cervical cancer globally could be reduced through a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, early diagnosis, and effective screening and treatment programs.
As efforts to implement cervical cancer programs are accelerating, a clear need exists for standardized data tools and guiding information to support countries with the greatest burden. Today on World Cancer Day 2019, we are inspired by a new toolkit that aims to address this need.
This new toolkit, Improving Data for Decision-making: A Toolkit for Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Programs, was made possible through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the CDC Foundation. The project was implemented from 2014–2017 by a consortium of partners—the CDC Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the George W. Bush Institute (Bush Institute), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The toolkit, informed by the work of subject-matter experts as well as field experiences of experts in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Latin America, and Asia, provides high-quality and timely data that are essential for comprehensive cervical cancer prevention and control programs. Each section in the toolkit includes guiding information and tools that can be adapted to country and programatic context. This toolkit can be utilized to generate the information needed to plan, implement, monitor, evaluate, and scale up cervical cancer prevention and control programs.
The CDC Foundation is proud to work with our global partners to provide essential data and tools to help eliminate cervical cancer in low-and middle-income countries.
