Top Three Take-Aways from the First Latin America Regional Meeting on Cervical Cancer Elimination

Many cannot find it acceptable for a woman to die from cervical cancer when there are scientific tools to combat the disease.

That is why the Institute of Governance and Cancer Control (IGCC), with the support of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, convened the first regional meeting on eliminating cervical cancer in Brasilia this month. Called “Dialogue on the Elimination of Cervical Cancer: A Call for Intersectoral Collaboration,” the event brought together more than 80 guests, including health leaders from 15 Latin American countries, and representatives of governments and ministries, international organizations, universities, hospitals, civil society organizations and the private sector, for a full day of discussion and workshopping.

The goal? To take the momentum of global efforts to reach the three pillars of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2030 goal of cervical cancer elimination (90% HPV vaccination of eligible girls, 70% of women screened by age 35 and 90% treatment for precancerous cells) and leave with concrete actions that could be implemented in Latin America the next day.

From the 24 panelists presenting their successful projects and programs, plus the workshops where participants exchanged experiences and goals, three key takeaways emerged:

Funding for local, national, and regional projects is a top priority

The first part of the program took a comprehensive look at data just from Latin America, including 35,000 deaths among women in the region annually and 180,000 maternal orphans due to cervical cancer. Participants from the World Bank and ProPacific Foundation helped define next steps for sustainable finance, which individual organizations will now try to operationalize in their countries.

Leverage Existing Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiatives

Another takeaway from the meeting: each group does not need to reinvent the wheel. There are many examples of cervical cancer elimination initiatives in Latin American countries that have shown success, and they can be used elsewhere.

Participants agreed that the HPV vaccine is a great tool for ending cervical cancer, and most of the countries had vaccine policies in place. Many have screening and treatment capabilities as well. But the group realized there is one common problem, and that is that women and teens are not empowered to get the vaccine or go for screening. They don’t have knowledge. Presenters shared powerful examples of how to change that, such as the Indaiatuba Project, in the interior of São Paulo. This pioneering initiative aims to increase early detection and prevention of the disease through HPV vaccination campaigns, screening exams with DNA testing, community education and training of health professionals, self-collection initiatives and changes to municipal laws to combat the disease. Peru also shared its self-collection experience.

As IGCC technical advisor and oncologist Dr. Fernanda Casarotto said, “We need to communicate better with teenagers. We need the public authorities, the private sector, civil society, football players, singers, people at home, to spread the word about HPV vaccination and screening.”

Actions for Cervical Cancer Prevention Can Start Right Away

Those actions include:

• Promoting female empowerment and self-care
• Engaging sources of finance and funds for regional initiatives
• Developing education, health literacy and effective communication for the target audience
• Implementing screening with HPV DNA tests
• Implementing self-collection
• Strengthening HPV vaccination programs

As one example, the agency that approves technology in Brazil has approved HPV DNA tests for screening, but the government hasn’t budgeted for them, so the tests are not yet available in the public health system. The group determined it needs to prove that this is a good investment and take that evidence to the government.

A next step to empower women is to promote health literacy about the kind of technology that’s available and why it is so important to get screened and so important for teenagers to get the vaccine – not just in Brazil, but in Chile, El Salvador, Paraguay and elsewhere. Even in Mexico, where HPV vaccination rates are higher, it is not that different.

Participants came away inspired by having similar goals and will continue working together and with Sabin to take advantage of the enthusiasm of participants and plan the next working sessions. Plans to map all the separate country initiatives, connect among each other and build on them collaboratively grew from the realization that programs can work together and take actions separately at the same time.

Participants determined that this would not be a one-time event and are making plans for another meeting soon. The Brasilia meeting was a starting point and the questions now being shared with other organizations throughout Latin America are, “What can we do, starting tomorrow? What are the commitments, as a region, that we can make?”