Eliminating Cervical Cancer: Creating hope for tomorrow by investing in girls and women today.
Birmingham— Cervical cancer is a preventable disease. It is also curable if detected early and adequately treated. Yet it remains one of the most common cancers and causes of cancer-related death in women across the globe. The annual number of new cases of cervical cancer has been projected to increase from 570 000 to 700 000 between 2018 and 2030, with the annual number of deaths projected to increase from 311 000 to 400 000. More than 85% of those affected are young, undereducated women who live in the world’s poorest countries. Many are also mothers of young children whose survival is subsequently truncated by the premature death of their mothers. Few diseases reflect global inequities as much as cancer of the cervix. In low- and middle-income countries its incidence is nearly twice as high and its death rates three times as high as in high-income countries.
The Human Rights Watch report shows, “Black women in Alabama are dying of Cervical Cancer at more than twice the national—despite the disease being preventable and curable if detected early.”
According to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization, “Through cost-effective, evidence-based interventions, including human papillomavirus vaccination of girls, screening and treatment of precancerous lesions, and improving access to diagnosis and treatment of invasive cancers, we can eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem and make it a disease of the past.”
Join the Historic 16th Street Baptist Church on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 7 pm for a virtual gathering to learn more about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) historic announcement. For the first time ever, the world will commit to eliminate a cancer. Connect to the event here: https://zoom.us/j/91087713238?pwd=QUc2andxREZtcFFDenpENFUzUGlCdz09
This virtual gathering will feature Professor Groesbeck Parham. Groesbeck is one the instrumental leaders who has enabled this landmark announcement is a world-renowned expert in Gynecologic Cancer, who serves as a leading expert for WHO. For the last 15 years, he has lived and worked in Zambia, where he dedicates his life to treating women who would otherwise lack access to quality medical care. But in May 1963, when he was 15 years old, Groesbeck’s dedication to the struggle for social justice was forged in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, when he participated in the “Children’s Crusade.” Groesbeck joined Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. King’s lieutenants, together with many other Black children, as they gathered in the church, before marching into the street to face Bull Connor, the dogs, and the fire hoses. Groesbeck was arrested and spent a week in jail. Ever since emerging from the church, has dedicated himself to fighting against inequality—across America and across the world. He went on to become the first African American at the University of Alabama to complete a residency in obstetrics and gynecology in 1985. He has channeled that expertise and knowledge into this important cause. (A brief article is available here: https://www.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2013/05/pulitzer_prize_winning_reporte.html
See the historic announcement and officially launch the elimination strategy: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/11/17/default-calendar/launch-of-the-global-strategy-to-accelerate-the-elimination-of-cervical-cancer
This fight against cervical cancer is a fight for women’s rights—the unnecessary suffering caused by this preventable disease reflects the injustices that uniquely affect women’s health around the world.