Cervical cancer elimination in Africa: Vaccination progress, HPV testing and the promise of AI-assisted triage tools for screening

Cervical cancer elimination in Africa: Vaccination progress, HPV testing and the promise of AI-assisted triage tools for screening Dr. Karen Yeates outlines advances in vaccination, HPV testing, and AI-assisted screening to help tackle cervical cancer in Africa. Cervical cancer remains one of the most preventable yet inequitable cancers globally. Despite the availability of effective vaccines for primary prevention, screening technologies, and curative treatment for precancer, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest cervical cancer incidence globally, with an estimated over 117,000 new cases and more than 76,000 deaths annually, representing nearly one quarter of the global burden. Persistent infection with carcinogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types underpins almost all cervical cancers, making HPV detection and linkage to preventive care central to elimination strategies(1,2).