Dear friends,

Today is a day for celebration, and also for reflection.

I would like to begin by congratulating all our female colleagues throughout the Organization, for this is a day that not only celebrates the gains made by women through their courage, effort, and dedication but commemorates the sacrifices made by many of those who have preceded us and helped pave the way for historic opportunities.

I would also like thank you for your generosity in turning those personal experiences into lessons and the motivation to create greater options for self-improvement and personal growth for other women, as we constantly and tirelessly do in our daily work to improve public health, guided by the principles of solidarity, equality, and equity. Therefore, our recognition as well to our male colleagues in the Organization, who make a real contribution to these efforts.

Today is also a good day for reflection. To recall that despite all the progress made, discrimination and inequality are still widespread. To remember always the heavy burden that inequity places on the shoulders of millions of women and their families. Feeling legitimate pride over how far we have come should not obscure our vision of how far we need to go. On the contrary, it should serve as encouragement to continue working determinedly for equality and equity.

It is therefore so appropriate that we take advantage of the celebration of International Women’s Day to call renewed attention to cervical cancer and its devastating impact on the health and well-being of women throughout the Region. We know that it is a serious public health problem, but we also know that it is significantly exacerbated by social and economic inequalities, since almost 80% of the cases occur in low-income countries, and these inequalities are mirrored inside them, adversely impacting indigenous, poor, and rural women.

Fortunately, every day more instruments for lowering the incidence of cervical cancer are becoming available. However, we must raise awareness and build the necessary consensus to effectively utilize these instruments, coordinating the efforts of governments, public health facilities, the private sector, families, and the population at large. It is therefore such a tremendous source of satisfaction that we have representatives from multilateral organizations, donors, our prestigious technical counterparts, public agencies from countries in the Region, nongovernmental organizations, and survivors of the disease participating in the forum “Make every girl count: Improving cervical cancer prevention”.

Working to build consensus to save the lives of tens of thousands of women each year is certainly the way to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Mirta Roses Periago