Cervical cancer on way out

AUSTRALIA is set to become the first country to all but eliminate cervical cancer within the next two decades thanks to Queensland’s groundbreaking Gardasil vaccination.

Cancer Council NSW research has found cervical cancer incidence rates are expected to almost halve to less than four new cases per 100,000 women annually by 2035 – a level so low the cancer would be considered as having been extinguished as a public health issue.

However, writing in The Lancet – Public Health journal, the researchers say Australia must to maintain its highly successful cervical cancer vaccination, developed in Queensland, and screening programs to achieve this result.