Global Strategies and Equity Challenges in Cervical Cancer Prevention and Elimination

Dear Colleagues,

Cervical cancer remains one of the most preventable yet inequitable cancers globally, with over 90% of cases occur-ring in low- and middle-income countries. Recent global commitments, including the World Health Organization’s cervical cancer elimination initiative, have accelerated momentum toward scale-up of HPV vaccination, screening and treatment. Advances in molecular diagnostics, point-of-care screening technologies and simplified treatment approaches present unprecedented opportunities to reduce incidence and mortality. However, progress has been uneven, with persistent gaps in coverage, financing, infrastructure and workforce capacity limiting the reach and sustainability of these interventions in high-burden settings.

As the global community seeks to achieve the targets for cervical cancer elimination, addressing inequities has be-come both a scientific and policy imperative. Key challenges include ensuring equitable access to vaccination and screening, integrating services within overstretched health systems, overcoming sociocultural barriers and leveraging digital innovations to improve follow-up and continuity of care. At the same time, there are growing opportunities to apply implementation science, community-based delivery models and cross-sectoral partnerships to bridge these gaps. This research area is therefore highly timely, offering critical insights for guiding evidence-based strategies that are both scalable and contextually appropriate, with direct implications for advancing global health equity and informing policy and practice.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances in global strategies for cervical cancer prevention and elimination, with a particular focus on addressing persistent inequities in access to HPV vaccination, screening and treatment. 

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Implementation strategies for scaling HPV vaccination in low- and middle-income countries
2. Innovative screening approaches (HPV testing, self-sampling, point-of-care diagnostics)
3. Integration of cervical cancer prevention into primary care, HIV and reproductive health programs
4. Community-based and culturally tailored models to improve uptake and retention of HPV vaccination, screening and treatment
5. Digital health interventions for screening, follow-up, treatment adherence and patient engagement (e.g., mHealth)
6. Health systems strengthening and workforce capacity building for cervical cancer control
7. Policy, financing and governance approaches to accelerate equitable access to cervical cancer prevention
8. Addressing gender, sociocultural and structural barriers to prevention and care
9. Advances in treatment of precancerous lesions in low-resource settings (thermal ablation, portable technologies)
10. Quality improvement and monitoring frameworks for cervical cancer elimination programs
11. Equity-focused approaches to achieving World Health Organization cervical cancer elimination targets

Dr. Simon M. Manga
Guest Editor

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• cervical cancer
• HPV vaccination
• cervical cancer screening
• health equity
• global health
• implementation science
• low-and middle-income countries
• health systems strengthening
• digital health
• mHealth interventions
• community-based interventions
• cancer prevention
• early detection
• WHO elimination strategy