Cervical cancer is one of the world’s most preventable cancers. And yet, every year, it continues to kill more than 340,000 women around the globe. Its rampage shows no sign of abating. Recent developments in medical science have given us the means of eliminating this cancer, including an HPV vaccine with a record for preventing up to 90 percent of cervical cancer, increasingly effective screening tests for detecting it as pre-cancer, and – should cervical pre-cancer progress to cancer – sophisticated treatment methods for extending and even sparing lives. But the vast majority of lower-income countries and regions within higher-income countries either know little about this cancer or lack the resources or infrastructure to stop it. Without greater awareness and a global willingness to intervene, hundreds of thousands more persons with cervixes will die. It will require a passionate, sustained, collective effort to save them.

On paper, eliminating cervical cancer looks doable. Given the effectiveness of the three pillars of prevention: primary, secondary, and tertiary, virtually no person with a cervix should die of the disease. HPV vaccination provides near-perfect protection, and for those who missed the vaccine’s age cut-off or who live in countries that can’t afford to provide it, cervical screening and follow-up resolve 90 percent of early cervical pre-cancer. Cancer can even be cured via treatment if it’s found early enough. And yet, despite the reliability of these prevention pillars, myriad obstacles stand in the way of providing consistent, well-attended programs – including widespread misunderstandings and misgivings about the HPV vaccine, a universal aversion to pelvic exams, and cultural restrictions against exposing women’s bodies to strangers. These underlying issues have long undermined efforts to eradicate the disease and diminished political will toward investing in this cause, particularly in countries or regions with meager health care budgets. Until these obstacles are addressed, simply throwing money at the problem will never be enough.