Global HPV Action Plan

Where historically policies, programs, and people have worked independently across the three pillars, the Global HPV Consortium will spur a paradigm shift towards a unified and trans-disciplinary alliance of agendas and changemakers.

The Consortium will look to implement Integration in two ways:

1. Integration across primary and secondary prevention by activating a unified vision and coordination across ministries and funding streams at the policy level and supporting holistic service delivery modalities at the program level.
2. Integration into existing health services, leveraging existing infrastructure and workforce capacity

Equitable access to vaccines, screening and treatment services requires creative solutions to barriers such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status and a keen focus on groups who continue to be left behind. Marginalized and difficult-to-reach populations include indigenous, tribal, mobile or migrant populations; out-of-school girls; ethnic and religious minorities; people living with disabilities.

Women living with HIV are 6 times more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer in their lifetime compared to women without HIV. These women are more likely to acquire HPV infection, less likely to clear infection, and more likely to experience recurrence after treatment of precancerous lesions. Communities such as transgender and non-binary populations are left behind under current policies. For example, current SAGE technical guidance includes provisions for boys and girls but does not include the transgender community in their recommendations.

The Consortium will spotlight these disparities to increase awareness, highlight opportunities, and augment access through locally developed solutions.

Embracing the distinctions both between and within countries and communities requires movement away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and towards policies and programs informed from the national, sub-national, and local levels.

Between countries:

• Health systems are unique and their functioning is determined by distinct infrastructure, resources, incentives, and measures of success.
• Cross-country learning and exchange of successes and solutions will expand potential advances.

Within countries:

• Engaging with ministries and sub-national leaders and implementers will better support locally designed solutions and increase buy-in and community trust.
• Distinct communities and groups, such as those highlighted in the Equity section, require unique approaches that cannot be homogenized if service delivery is to be aligned within community norms.
• Facilitating feedback loops from the local to national level can promote the development of policies and programs that are designed to meet the needs of the communities they aim to serve.

The Consortium will continue to stress that those closest to the challenge must be part of co-designing solutions.

Sustaining coverage rates of primary and secondary prevention services well beyond the period of introduction requires action and attention across policy, financing, service delivery, the workforce, and the community.

Without a global-level funding stream to provide countries with support for integration of cervical cancer prevention, it often falls to domestic budgets to execute this holistic approach. Thus, countries must be supported in the design and development of domestic financing plans that can be maintained beyond the period of introduction to ensure interventions remain robust and effective.

Achieving sustained action and investment will include:

• Strong political prioritization at the national level
• Sufficient and smart domestic financing mechanisms for holistic cervical cancer elimination strategies
• Stable supply of vaccines and secondary prevention products
• Cost effective, community-owned, and integrated service delivery models
• A skilled and motivated workforce
• Acceptance and demand for preventive services among target communities