Australia is on the Verge of Becoming the First Country in the World to Eliminate Cervical Cancer

Australia is set to become the first country in the entire world to eliminate cervical cancer in the near future, according to a recent study published in The Lancet medical journal by the non-profit Cancer Council New South Wales.

By focusing on increasing HPV vaccinations, health screening rates, and other national prevention programs, the medical study predicts that by 2028, less than four in 100,000 Australian women are expected to contract cervical cancer and between the 2030s and beyond, the cancer rates could be as low as one woman per year nationwide if the prevention methods and policies are still in place as well as effective.

The proliferation of cancer screenings started more than 20 years ago and the HPV vaccine campaign was initiated more than a decade ago when the federal Pacific Oceanian country became one of the first countries in the world to introduce and offer the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine. The vaccine was offered to girls and women at first, and boys and men later on through free vaccinations at schools across the country.

Last year, in 2017, the country replaced the traditional pap smear examination with more sensitive and advanced HPV cervical cancer screening tests. Many of the prevention measures have been enacted at a large and effective scale due to the country’s public-private two-tier universal health system, where the government provides most of the basic primary care through a national health insurance program, and the rest are paid for by either private insurance or out-of-pocket.