Cost and Financing Issues Limit Access to the HPV Vaccine

Abstract

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death from cancer among women in low-resource settings, affectingwomen at a time of life when they are critical to social and economic stability. Every year, about 500,000 womenworldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer and more than 250,000 die from the disease. It is the leading cancerin women in half the countries of the world and mostly affects relatively young poor women. But the vaccine costis too high. With the availability of cost-effective, safe vaccine, there is real hope for reducing the global burdenof cervical cancer.