As South Africa (SA) observes Women\u2019s Month, health advocates and civil society organisations are calling for accelerated action to eliminate cervical cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among SA women aged 15 to 44.<\/p>\n
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Claiming nearly 6 000 lives in SA each year, cervical cancer is more than 95% preventable through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and routine screening. Health experts stress that the disease represents a significant structural health barrier affecting women\u2019s lives, dignity, and economic participation.<\/p>\n
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Speaking on the urgency of the crisis, Cancer Alliance Director Salom\u00e9 Meyer warned that immediate action is critical.<\/p>\n
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“Women’s Month is not only a time to celebrate women, it is a time to protect their health and their future. No woman should lose her life to a disease that is both preventable and treatable,” Meyer said, noting that one woman dies from cervical cancer every 67 minutes in SA.<\/p>\n
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The burden falls disproportionately on women living with HIV, who are six times more likely to develop cervical cancer. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 85% of women globally living with both conditions, highlighting the need to integrate cervical cancer screening directly into existing HIV care pathways.<\/p>\n
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Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi previously framed cervical cancer elimination as “a matter of social justice and gender equality,” reaffirming SA\u2019s commitment to the World Health Organisation\u2019s 90-70-90 targets for vaccination, screening, and treatment. While the Department of Health has expanded its school-based HPV vaccination campaign to private schools and adopted single-dose guidelines, advocates stress that equitable implementation remains the key challenge.<\/p>\n
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Civil society groups are urging a multisectoral strategy that includes adopting higher-valency HPV vaccines, expanding community-based HPV DNA testing and self-sampling, and securing private sector investment for healthcare worker training and patient navigation.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41449,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-41447","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Health experts call for equity and integration in fight against cervical cancer","published_date":"2026-08-03 17:18:51","news_description":"Health experts call for equity and integration in fight against cervical cancer","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41448,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41447\/revisions\/41448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}