UNAIDS: Access to cervical cancer screening for women living with hiv must be scaled up

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, aimed at achieving zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths, is calling for better access to information about the human papillomavirus (HPV) and better screening and treatment for women living with HIV around the world.

HPV is a main cause of cervical cancer. Every year around 500,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and around half of them die from the disease. It is estimated that without efforts to scale up screening and treatment this number might double by 2035.

Women living with HIV are in particular risk to develop cervical cancer due to their compromised immune system. It is also known that HPV significantly increases the risk of HIV transmission for both men and women. It is extremely important to provide women living with HIV with affordable screening, prevention programs and treatment, if needed.