Blueprint to Close the Women%E2%80%99s Health Gap 2025

Definition: Number of countries that include the HPV test in their national screening programmes for cervical cancer Source: HPV Information Centre, WHO Period: July 2023 Determining whether countries use the HPV test in their national screening programmes is also an indicator of whether the primary cause of cervical cancer is being prevented, and HPV testing is recommended by the WHO.202 Data was looked at globally from the HPV Information Centre which is part of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. The database publishes information on indicators across cervical cancer, and this indicator was whether HPV tests are included in national cervical cancer screening programmes.3.8 Metric 8: Number of countries using the HPV test in screening programmes Definition: Number of countries that have cervical cancer screening programmes in line with WHO recommendations Source: HPV Information Centre, WHO Period: July 2023 It is important to implement cervical cancer screening programmes nationally, as cervical cancer screening can allow earlier detection of cancer and can reduce the stigma associated with cervical cancer.203 The HPV Information Centre collects data on screening programmes, where the existence of official national recommendations, the year of implementation and screening ages are collected by country. For this metric, existence of cervical cancer screening by country was noted, with a count of how many countries have implemented screening programmes.3.9 Metric 9: Number of countries with screening programmes in line with the WHO Definition: Proportion of women aged 25–65 screened for cervical cancer Source: HPV Information Centre, WHO Period: July 2023 Linked to the previous metric, the HPV Information Centre also collects data on overall screening coverage. The proportion of women aged 25–65 screened for cervical cancer is used as the primary indicator globally, with this metric tracking the percentage of women covered by country. The HPV Information Centre collects further data on the percentage of women screened for cervical cancer in the past five years, and in the past three years for a more granular view.3.10 Metric 10: Percentage participation in screening programmes Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All 46