World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day 2025

Message from WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi

On this World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day, we celebrate the progress African countries are making towards a future free of cervical cancer, and renew our shared commitment to ensure that no woman dies from a preventable disease.

Cervical cancer remains one of the most common and deadly cancers among women in Africa. Yet, it is also one of the most preventable. With the tools now available - HPV vaccination, screening and timely treatment - elimination is within reach. The challenge before us is to make these tools accessible to every girl and every woman, everywhere.

Across the WHO African Region, momentum is building. Thirty-two Member States have introduced HPV vaccination into their national immunization plans, reaching nearly half of all eligible girls. Several more countries have rolled out the vaccine this year, and at least eight others plan to do so in 2026. Each of these introductions represents protection, against both a virus and against loss, suffering and lives cut short too soon.

Through the Women's Integrated Cancer Services (WICS) initiative, WHO is helping countries embed cervical and breast cancer screening into primary health care. This integrated approach - continuous, accessible and women-centred - strengthens the entire continuum of prevention, early detection and treatment. Presented to Ministers of Health at the Seventy-fifth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa this year, WICS offers a practical model for advancing women's health across our Region.

These gains have been made possible through powerful partnerships. Working with other UN agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, WHO is supporting national cancer control assessments and plans, with a focus on cervical cancer.

With the generous support of partners such as the Government of Spain, WHO is helping countries build human resource and technological capacity: updating national cancer control plans, training health workers, and providing essential equipment for treating pre-cancerous lesions.

But progress is not yet victory. Too many women still lack access to screening, diagnosis and treatment. Too many health systems remain under-resourced to deliver the care that women deserve. Eliminating cervical cancer will demand sustained commitment, financing and coordination, from governments, partners, communities and individuals alike.

I call on all Member States to accelerate national action under the three pillars of the Global Strategy for Cervical Cancer Elimination - vaccination, screening and treatment - and to place women's health and rights at the centre of universal health coverage.

Together, we can make elimination a reality, securing a future where every woman in Africa, wherever she lives, has access to the protection, care and dignity she deserves.

Learn more:

• World Health Assembly endorses 17 November as World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day
• Angola takes a historic step with the introduction of the cervical cancer vaccine
• Namibia rolls out human papillomavirus vaccination to help end cervical cancer
• Ethiopia Launches Month-Long Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment Campaign Across Six Regions
• Strengthening cervical cancer surgical capacity in Sierra Leone through south-south collaboration
• National training boosts cervical cancer prevention efforts in Botswana

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• Delivering comprehensive cancer care to women in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Cote D'Ivoire

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• Eswatini Accelerates Cervical Cancer Elimination: WHO-Supported Training Delivers Lifesaving Care to Over 80 Women