An NHS chief has pledged that by 2040, cervical cancer will be completely eradicated in England, sparing thousands of women from the disease annually.
One of the first nations in the world, England has established a target to eradicate cervical cancer in the next 20 years.
At today’s NHS Providers conference in Liverpool, Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, will assert that cervical screening and vaccinations in schools will eradicate the disease.
The National Health Service (NHS) will now step up its efforts to boost vaccination rates and the number of women examined for this illness.
Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is the primary cause of cervical cancer. It is spread through sexual contact and does not show any signs.
Roughly 99.7% of cervical malignancies are caused by 13 high-risk HPV strains.
Instead of receiving two doses of the vaccination when they were in Year 8, youngsters have only received one dose since September.
Ms Pritchard said it was ‘truly momentous to be able to set out such an important, life-saving ambition’, adding that eliminating cervical cancer ‘would be an incredible achievement’.
She said: ‘Vaccination and screening are the key tools which mean we are one step closer to achieving this and the NHS is already making it easier than ever before for people to protect themselves and their families – whether it’s through community outreach in areas of lower uptake or expanding the NHS app so that everyone has their vaccine history and booking options in the palm of their hand.
‘As ever, the public can play their part by coming forward for their vaccines and screening appointments when invited – to achieve our goal of eliminating cervical cancer, we need as many people as possible to take up the offer, so please don’t delay, it could save your life.’
By Year 10, 86.5% of females in 2021–2022 had already gotten one dose. The percentage for boys is 81.5%.
Health and care personnel will now have more assistance in determining which individuals require the vaccine the most, thanks to focused outreach and the availability of vaccination opportunities in study and social spaces like libraries, community centres, and sports and recreation centres.
Eliminating cervical cancer means that fewer than four in every 100,000 women in England will develop the disease.
Currently, in England, about 2,700 women receive a cervical cancer diagnosis every year, and about 850 of them pass away.