Cancer News
Global forum on cervical cancer commits to eliminate the disease
�ommitments may save many women�s lives
Governments , donors , and other stakeholders have pledged to strengthen their commitment to ending cervical cancer by expanding vaccine coverage , screening , and treatment .
Gathering at the first Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum : Advancing the Call to Action in Cartegena de Indias , Colombia , participants agreed to invest US $ 600 million to fund the programmes in a move that could see a malignancy be eliminated for the first time in history .
Most cervical cancer cases are caused by human papillomavirus ( HPV ) infection , a common sexually transmitted condition that can be prevented with vaccination or successfully treated if detected early through regular screening . But limited prevention and screening means that every two minutes a woman dies from cervical cancer , mostly in lowand middle-income countries .
The Democratic Republic of Congo committed to introducing the HPV vaccine as early as possible , while Ethiopia set the target of vaccinating at least 95 percent of 14-year-old girls in 2024 .
“ We have the knowledge and the tools to make cervical cancer history , but vaccination , screening and treatment programmes are still not reaching the scale required ,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , WHO Director-General , in a press release . �This first global forum is an important opportunity for governments and partners to invest in the global elimination strategy and address the inequities that deny women and girls access to the life-saving tools they need .”
Artificial intelligence could spot aggressive prostate cancers
Approach may improve treatment of minority with deadlier disease
U
K researchers have identified two different subtypes of prostate cancer that might help doctors understand who ’ s more likely to develop the deadlier form of the disease and thus requires treatment .
Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in men , but in most cases the risk of dying is low . However , a minority of people with the condition are at a significant risk . �esearchers used AI to analyse DNA changes in the prostate cancer samples of 159 people and managed to distinguish two forms called evotypes . People with one evotype , for instance , were twice as likely to suffer a recurrence of the disease . The AI analysis promises to significantly improve treatment given its ability to better select patients .
“ The key problem in prostate cancer is identifying those 15 % of men who will have more aggressive cancers that will spread to other organs and that will actually cause death ,” lead study author Professor David Wedge of Manchester Cancer Research Centre told the Guardian . “ If we can identify those men , we can give them more robust treatment … and you can leave alone the other 85 % of men . That is beneficial because the surgery itself has a lot of side effects . �
The hope is that a genetic test combined with standard staging and grading will offer more accurate prognoses and lead to tailored treatment options .
22 ISSUE 1 | 2024 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com