Fighting cancer: The Hindu Editorial on cervical cancer vaccine for girls
The HinduIndia has taken up the fight against cervical cancer in earnest with the Central government announcing that it will roll out vaccination for girls aged between 9 and 14 years through schools. The decision comes at a critical juncture with a study in The Lancet published this month showing that India accounts for the highest number of cervical cancer cases in Asia, followed by China. With more than 6,00,000 women diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide in 2020, the World Health Organization laid down several guidelines that countries need to follow to eliminate it as a public health problem. This is a vital step because studies show that there is a link between cervical cancer incidence and human development index values, with progressively lower rates observed as HDI rises.