Global partners and world leaders are celebrating the progress made towards eliminating cervical cancer on the third Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action. While countries like Australia, Benin, and Norway have shown significant progress in reducing cervical cancer cases, challenges remain, particularly for women in poorer countries and marginalized communities. The global HPV vaccination coverage has increased to 21%, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, and efforts are underway to catch up on missed vaccinations due to the pandemic. However, there is a need for improved access to screening, treatment, and palliative care, with only 65% of countries including cervical cancer screening services and 69% including radiotherapy in their health benefit packages. To achieve the goal of eliminating cervical cancer, countries must meet the 90-70-90 targets by 2030, which involve vaccination, screening, and treatment.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has introduced its "Zero Debris approach" to significantly reduce space debris in Earth and Lunar orbits by 2030. To promote global action, ESA has facilitated the Zero Debris Charter, a global initiative for all space entities to sign and follow towards achieving a zero debris future. The charter has been finalized and more than 40 organizations have actively engaged in its development. The goal is to bring together space actors worldwide to create no more debris by 2030 and ensure the long-term sustainability of space activities. Interested entities can register their intent to sign the charter, with signing ceremonies planned for the first half of 2024.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the G20 India presidency have launched a new Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) to support the implementation of the Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020–2025. The GIDH initiative aims to develop investment plans, improve transparency, facilitate knowledge exchange, support governance, and increase technical and financial support for digital health transformation. Digital health interventions are seen as crucial in advancing health outcomes and achieving Universal Health Coverage and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been pushing to change the way doctors give the HPV vaccine, with the goal of eliminating cervical cancer. Currently, the vaccine is given in a series of two or three shots, but WHO recommends a one- or two-dose schedule for girls and women ages 9 to 20 and a two-dose shot with a six-month interval for women older than 21. A recent study provided additional evidence that one shot of the vaccine is highly effective over three years, if not longer. The one-dose approach could be a game-changer for the prevention of cancer, WHO said.
