Jamaican women have a vested interest in the vital information contained in the just-launched first edition of a ‘Compendium of Country Case Studies on Cervical Cancer Elimination’ in Geneva.

And while Jamaica was not among the 12 countries, including two Caribbean nations — Antigua and Barbuda and Belize — for whom case studies were presented, we hope that our Health and Wellness Ministry participated in the forum, or at the very least is paying attention.

We are pleased to see that another Caribbean Community (Caricom) member, Guyana, chaired the forum assembled to discuss solutions to one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in the Commonwealth, under the theme ‘Shaping the Future of Cancer Across the Commonwealth’.

The case studies outlined how the 12 countries highlighted are advancing efforts to eliminate cervical cancer through vaccination, screening, treatment and care at a time of tightening financial conditions and evolving health disparities.

The Jamaican case study could easily have found a place among the 12 nations. Cervical cancer is a leading cancer killer among Jamaican women, causing between 175 and 247 deaths annually, or approximately 11.6 to 13.6 deaths per 100,000 women, according to health authorities.

It remains the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths for Jamaican women in the 30 to 50 age group.

Tragically, an estimated 90 per cent of our women who die from this disease have never been screened.

An estimated 376 to 386 new cervical cancer cases are diagnosed yearly, making them roughly four times more likely to die from the disease than women in the United States. In these modern times, this is an unacceptably high risk of death from a disease that is highly preventable with early detection and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

Globally, cervical cancer claims approximately 350,000 lives each year, making it the fourth-most-common cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. In 2022, there were roughly 348,709 recorded deaths, and up to 94 per cent of these fatalities occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Health watchers say that the global mortality from cervical cancer is heavily skewed by systemic inequities in health-care access, with the highest rates concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and South-East Asia.

This remains the leading cause of cancer death for women in 37 countries, and the most commonly diagnosed cancer in 25 nations. Low Human Development Index (HDI) countries experience mortality rates up to five times higher than very high HDI countries.

The disease is caused by persistent infection with high-risk types of the HPV. Because highly effective vaccines, early screening, and prompt treatments exist, so many women do not have to die from cervical cancer.

However, the Commonwealth forum was told that due to a lack of broad access to HPV vaccination and screening the disease burden is expected to grow, and without scaled-up preventive measures and systematic global cooperation, global cervical cancer deaths are expected to increase over the coming decades.

It was good to see that of the country cases presented, both Antigua-Barbuda and Belize, small economically challenged nations were held up as key country examples of impactful interventions.

Hope springs eternal.