Close cervical cancer gap in India, focus on prevention, equity
2 min readMay 14, 2026 06:10 AM IST First published on: May 14, 2026 at 06:10 AM IST A modelling study in The Lancet has estimated that India can prevent more than 10 million cervical cancer cases over the next century if it achieves the WHO’s targets on HPV vaccination — 90 per cent of girls to be vaccinated by age 15; 70 per cent of women to be screened at ages 30 and above; and 90 per cent of patients to receive treatment. The scale of that possibility is extraordinary. But so is the scale of the challenge. India accounts for one of the world’s heaviest cervical-cancer burdens, with more than 1.2 lakh new cases and roughly 80,000 deaths each year. Cervical cancer is among the most preventable forms of the disease, yet for many women — especially those in rural districts, poorer households and socially marginalised communities — access to early screening, reliable diagnosis, treatment that is not prohibitively expensive and preventive vaccination remain a distant reality. The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was …
