World ‘closer to a future free of cervical cancer’More than 86 million girls in the most at-risk nations have received a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) – the leading cause of cervical cancer – since 2023. That’s according to data published to coincide with the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day on Monday. The WHO name-checked more than a dozen nations that launched HPV vaccination programmes this year, including Cuba, Pakistan and Rwanda. “More and more countries are scaling up HPV vaccination, improving screening, and expanding treatment, bringing us closer to a future free of cervical cancer,” said Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO. In 2024, a study revealed that no cases of cervical cancer had been detected in young women in Scotland who received it.