About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is part of the series Cervical Cancer Awareness: Volume II - Access and Quality of Life

Cervical Cancer Awareness Month takes place every January. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, despite it being both preventable and curable if detected early and managed well.

Due to increased screening and prevention, the impact of this cancer has been greatly reduced. However, global inequities in prevention result in limited access to health services including prophylactic HPV vaccinations, and screening and treatment of precancerous cervical cancer lesions, have led to disproportionately high morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries.

Any individual with a uterine cervix is at risk for cervical cancer but most cervical cancer occurs in women over the age of 30 years. At least half of sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives but only a few women will get cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer impacts women in many ways including but not limited to psychological, physical and social health impacts. Disability and deaths from cervical cancer impose disease burdens on women and their families thereby contributing to significant reduction in quality of life.

This occasion not only offers an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination but also hopes to contribute to the elimination of cervical cancer worldwide in line with the World Health Organisation cervical cancer elimination strategy.

This research topic aims to cover, but is not limited to:
• The evidence for the shift from cytology testing to HPV testing for cervical cancer screening
• The technology explosion in point-of-care testing and self-testing and its potential worldwide application
• Cervical cancer screening: awareness, population/individual knowledge, attitudes towards screening, parental consent, and uptake
• Methodology of cervical cancer screening: access and barriers to access, cost, validity and reliability, and HIV as a comorbidity
• Prophylactic HPV vaccines: awareness, knowledge, attitudes, barriers, facilitators, parental consent, expanded age limits, uptake, coverage, and immunogenicity
• Evidence supporting a decrease in the number of prophylactic HPV vaccine doses needed for protection
• Identification of precursors of cervical cancer
• Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on HPV vaccination, cervical cancer screening, and treatment

We welcome Case reports, Commentary, Case series, Cross-sectional studies, Controlled Trials, Original Research, and Reviews.

Keywords: cervical cancer, screening, prevention, HPV vaccination, COVID-19, HPV testing, awareness, barriers, precursors

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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