Eradication of cervical cancer in Latin America

Abstract

Cervical cancer remains within the three most common cancer in women worldwide and is still the commonest female cancer in 41 of 184 countries. Within Latin America, cervical ranks as the most common cancer among women in Bolivia and Peru and the second most frequent in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, The Guyanas, Surinam and Venezuela. Due to its relatively early age at onset, it ranks among the three most frequent cancers in women aged below 45 years in 82% of all countries in the world irrespective of their screening practices.1 The annual current burden of human papillomaviruses (HPV)-related diseases has been estimated in 610 000 cancer cases and 320 million cases of anogenital warts worldwide in both genders. Of these 75 000 cancer cases are diagnosed in Central and South America,2 and another 25 000 in North America. In many developed countries, cervical cancer incidence and mortality has been greatly reduced by screening early diagnosis and surgical treatment of the precursor lesions found in screen positive women. However, these programs are costly and require a high level of social organization, medical development and public financing and control. Globally screening activities have largely failed to reduce mortality in the vast majority of the populations.