The Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, has revealed that more than one million cervical cancer deaths have been prevented in lower-income countries thanks to a massive scale-up of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. This breakthrough was announced on the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.
An estimated 86 million girls are now shielded from cervical cancer, the leading cause of the disease. Gavi’s CEO, Dr. Sania Nishtar, credited a three-year push starting in 2023 to revitalize HPV vaccination programs worldwide.
“Every two minutes, a woman dies from cervical cancer a largely preventable but devastating disease,” Nishtar said. She highlighted that lower-income countries bear the brunt, accounting for 90% of the 350,000 global deaths in 2022.
The HPV vaccine’s impact is clear: it prevents 17.4 deaths per 1,000 children vaccinated. By the end of 2025, it will be available in countries representing 89% of all cervical cancer cases. Notably, Africa’s vaccination coverage surged to 44% in 2024, surpassing Europe’s 38%, while overall coverage in Gavi-supported countries climbed from 8% to 25% since 2022.
Since 2014, Gavi’s vaccination effort has generated over $2.3 billion in economic benefits in 43 lower-income nations. This progress comes from affordable vaccine prices, increased supply, a shift to single-dose schedules, and outreach campaigns targeting adolescent girls.
Dr. Nishtar noted that seven more countries are set to add the HPV vaccine to their national immunization programs soon, with ongoing campaigns in Sierra Leone and Liberia expanding protection to girls up to 18 years old.
Gavi is a global public-private partnership working to vaccinate over half the world’s children against deadly diseases. Since 2000, it has helped immunize more than 1.2 billion children and prevented over 20.6 million potential deaths across 78 lower-income countries.
Beyond HPV, Gavi strengthens global health security by supporting health systems and funding stockpiles for vaccines against Ebola, cholera, meningitis, and yellow fever. Now, Gavi focuses on protecting zero-dose children—those who have never received any vaccine—using innovative technologies like drones and biometrics to save lives and help countries become self-reliant.
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