WHO should adjust its global strategy for cervical cancer prevention

⇒ The goal of global cervical cancer prevention efforts should be to save as many lives as quickly as possible.In 2020, the WHO launched a 'Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem', which advocates that, by 2030, 90% of the world's girls should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), 70% of the world's women should be screened using HPV tests and 90% of women with cervical disease should receive appropriate follow-up care.⇒ WHO provides uncertain guidance for low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of the world's cervical cancer deaths occur and where HPV screening and HPV vaccination are not widely affordable.Because it does not prevent cervical cancer among women who have previously gotten HPV, HPV vaccination does not offer protection from cervical cancer for most women in LMICs.Quality management for visual screening is problematic.In 2005, the Head of Cancer Screening at the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer emphasised 'Our results clearly show that good-quality Pap smear screening can be implemented even in a rural setting of a developing country with reasonable investment, while HPV screening does not give any better [disease detection], despite the higher investments'.⇒ WHO should commit to saving as many lives as quickly as possible and advocate for good-quality Pap smear screening in LMICs until better-quality HPV screening becomes widely affordable in LMICs.⇒ Iatrogenic delays to Pap screening in LMICs have contributed to at least 500 000 preventable cervical cancer deaths.