Today marks the culmination of the fourth International HPV Awareness Campaign, coinciding with International HPV Awareness Day. Raising awareness of HPV [the human papillomavirus] is essential in the fight against cancer – most prominently cervical cancer. As the World Health Organization (WHO) explains, “there are more than 100 types of HPV, of which at least […]
cervical cancer
Cancer in India: A snapshot of the threat
India observes World Cancer Day 2021 in far from normal circumstances. The raging COVID-19 pandemic has threatened to obscure the plethora of other diseases India and the world at large grapples with. Awareness events such as World Cancer Day serve to shine a light on the far-reaching impact of cancer in India, which has emerged […]
Cervical cancer elimination: WHO makes landmark commitment
The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled an ambitious strategy for cervical cancer elimination, one of the most pressing threats to the health of girls and women globally. In what the WHO called “a historic milestone”, 194 member states committed to the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer. This marks the first […]
Cervical cancer elimination: A 100-year roadmap
Cervical cancer as a threat, in the words of the World Health Organization (WHO), “is one of the greatest today to women’s health.” As a public health priority, cervical cancer elimination is much-needed – and research published last week in The Lancet outlines the contours of the roadmap towards this end over the next 100 […]
HWCs: Almost 21,000 built under Ayushman Bharat
![A primary health centre in Thuravoor, Kerala. Strengthening India's primary healthcare infrastructure through HWCS is a core of Ayushman Bharat. (Image credit: Ranjithsiji [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons)](https://i1.wp.com/www.healthissuesindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/800px-Thuravoor_Primary_Health_Center_Main_Building.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Healthcare equipment: The greatest disparity?")
More than 20,000 health and wellness centres (HWCs) are operational across India. HWCs mark a major commitment by the Centre to strengthening primary healthcare infrastructure in the country, coming as part of its flagship health insurance initiative, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) or Ayushman Bharat. In the previous year, 20,942 HWCs have become […]
HPV vaccination saves lives. As we have been reminded again.
New research confirms again what public health experts have long asserted: vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is an effective tool in reducing the spread of cervical cancer. For India, the news is important. Given the high death toll of cervical cancer in the country, and stalled efforts to roll out HPV vaccination, the finding […]
Urine test a new hope for cervical cancer detection?
There may be new hope in the fight against cervical cancer – a disease that accounts for seventeen percent of all cancer deaths in India – in the form of a urine test. Researchers from the University of Manchester, based in the UK, have found that a urine test could be as accurate as the […]
What the HPV vaccine could do for India – and why it hasn’t been done already
A disease which kills almost 300,000 women a year – including 67,500 women in India – could be all but eliminated by the end of the century if efforts are made to increase access to a lifesaving vaccine according to recent research published in The Lancet. The disease is cervical cancer. The vaccine is against […]
Cervical cancer kills 67,500 women every year. With the HPV vaccine, India can save them.
Experts recommend that girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) when they are aged eleven or twelve. If that window is missed, however, the vaccine can still be effective if they get a “catch-up” course when aged fourteen to twenty, US researchers suggest. This could give India pause for thought. The overwhelming majority of […]
HPV vaccine drive for girls in Sikkim
A scheme is underway to vaccinate girls in the northeast state of Sikkim against the human papillomavirus (HPV). The programme is expected to reach 32,000 girls aged nine to fourteen over the next fortnight. They will be administered the first dose of the HPV vaccine in the next two weeks. The second dose will be […]