A study published by Sankaranarayanan et al. in the April 2, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine added to the growing evidence that a significant impact on cancer mortality can be achieved by offering women even a single opportunity for cervical cancer screening using an HPV DNA test followed by treatment as indicated.

Cervical cancer takes the lives of more than 270,000 women every year, over 80 percent of them in less developed countries.

Cervical cancer kills 270,000 women each year - mainly women in the developing world and in the prime of their productive lives. Yet cervical cancer is preventable by screening asymptomatic women for precancerous cervical lesions and treating the lesions before they progress to invasive disease.

It has been estimated that 470,606 incident cases and 233,372 deaths due to malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri will have occurred among women globally in the year 2000 (Globocan 2000, IARC). Over 80% of this estimated burden will have occurred in less developed countries, where cervical cancer is the leading cause of malignancy among women. Further, during the year 2000

Over 83,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and almost 36,000 died from this disease in the Region of the Americas, in 2012.

Cervical cancer is responsible for approximately 83,000 new cases and 35,000 deaths each year in the Americas. It is the second leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality among women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since their early availability in 2006 in the US and Europe, HPV vaccines have been received with great interest and optimism. Pre-dating their availability for public use, the safety profile...

HPV vaccine represents an important opportunity to significantly reduce the global burden of cervical cancer. With more than 80% of cervical cancer cases affecting women in the developing world...