Thread by @WHO

Live with @DrTedros on #CervicalCancer Elimination Day of Action 2021. #GlowTeal twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

"Last month, I had the honour of meeting the @LacksFamily. For those who don’t know her story, Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who attended a hospital in Baltimore in 1951 complaining of vaginal bleeding – a common symptom of #cervicalcancer"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1448319489003692036?s=20

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "Without her knowledge or consent, doctors took a biopsy of the tumour and sent it off for analysis"-@DrTedros #CervicalCancer

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1460974059966115841?s=20

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "Those cells turned out to have a unique ability to survive and reproduce, and became the basis for research that has saved millions of lives, including vaccines against human papillomavirus, or #HPV, the pathogen responsible for 99% of #cervicalcancer"-@DrTedros

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "Nobel Prizes have been won, fortunes made & millions of lives saved from #HenriettaLacks’s cells. But the injustice that was perpetrated on her persists for millions of other disadvantaged women 🌍 who lack access to the tools that were developed from her cells"-@DrTedros

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "#CervicalCancer is the fourth most common #cancer among women globally, but it is almost completely preventable and, if diagnosed early enough, is one of the most successfully treatable cancers"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1412374879396110337?s=20

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "This disease [#CervicalCancer] claims the lives of 300 thousand women each year – 1 every 2 minutes"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1460899127269769222?s=20

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "Like #COVID19, we have the tools to prevent, detect and treat this disease. But like COVID-19, #cervicalcancer is driven by inequitable access to those tools"-@DrTedros

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "79 countries that account for 2/3 of the global burden of #cervicalcancer are yet to introduce HPV vaccines, because of high prices and inadequate supply"-@DrTedros

@LacksFamily @DrTedros "In low- and middle-income countries, the incidence of #cervicalcancer is nearly twice as high, and the death rate is three times as high, as in high-income countries. We see similar disparities among marginalized populations within many high-income countries"-@DrTedros

"That’s why one year ago today, WHO launched a global strategy to eliminate #cervicalcancer, with three targets to achieve within the next 10 years:
1️⃣ To vaccinate 90% of all girls against human papillomavirus by the age of 15"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1328695488091095042?s=20

"2️⃣To expand access to #cervicalcancer screening services for 70% of women

3️⃣ To expand access to treatment for 90% of women with pre-cancerous lesions, and palliative care for 90% of women with invasive cancer"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1328695488091095042?s=20

@DrTedros "Like it has with so many diseases, the #COVID19 pandemic has caused setbacks to progress towards these targets because of disruption to health services. The proportion of girls globally with access to HPV vaccines has fallen to 13%, from 15% before the pandemic"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "At the same time, there are encouraging signs of progress. In the past year, several more countries have introduced the HPV vaccine into national immunization schedules, including Cameroon, Cabo Verde, El Salvador, Mauritania, Qatar, Sao Tome and Principe, and Tuvalu"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "WHO has prequalified a 4th HPV vaccine: Cecolin, produced by Innovax, which we expect will increase supply & decrease prices.
We've also seen innovations like self-sampling, which offers women the option of being screened for cervical cancer without a pelvic exam"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Today we are releasing WHO’s evidence generation framework for artificial intelligence-based screening"-@DrTedros #CervicalCancer

@DrTedros "Today we are calling on all countries, all manufacturers of vaccines, tests and treatments, all partners and all civil society organizations to join us in our effort to make #cervicalcancer history"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "#HenriettaLacks didn’t live to see the benefit that her cells have been to so many women around the world. #Cervicalcancer took her life just a few months after she was diagnosed"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "We owe it to her – and to all women who have died with #cervicalcancer or are living with it today – to make these life-saving tools available and affordable everywhere"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1460981177217597448?s=20