Every two minutes, a woman dies from the human papillomavirus (HPV) which causes cervical cancer.
To mark World Cancer Day 2019, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has addressed the unfounded rumours surrounding the efficacy of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine which kills more than 300,000 women each year.
In a statement in which it “unequivocally confirms the efficacy and safety of HPV vaccination,” the director of IARC Elisabete Weiderpass said,
“Unfounded rumours about HPV vaccines continue to unnecessarily delay or impede the scaling up of the vaccination, which is so urgently needed to prevent cervical cancer.”
Cervical cancer ranks number four among deadly cancers and with over 500 thousand new patients in 2018, it has become a more sensitive form of cancer to tackle.
There are fears that the disease will cause the death of over 460,000 women every year by 2040.
A necessary vaccination is recommended by the World Health Organisation for women between the ages of nine and 14.