FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, 9 August, 2023 - The Ministry of Health, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on 9 August 2023, launched the National Policy and Strategy for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, a five-year roadmap on eliminating cervical cancer, with a focus on scaling up the screening, treatment of women and the vaccination of young girls.

Officially launching the Strategy, Director of Reproductive and Child Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Tom Sesay said, Government’s vision was of a Sierra Leone where cervical cancer is eliminated as a public health problem. He noted that the Strategy, which articulates the direction for cervical cancer elimination in Sierra Leone, would be the guide towards the realization of a Sierra Leone where cervical cancer is totally eliminated. He underscored the need for collective ownership and implementation of the Strategy by all relevant stakeholders.

In her statement, UNFPA Deputy Representative, Ms. Sibeso Mululuma, said the national policy and strategy to eliminate cervical cancer provided a clear roadmap for getting on the path to the prevention and even elimination of cervical cancer, and reaffirmed UNFPA’s commitment to support its full implementation so as to ensure the full realization of the reproductive health of all women and girls.

“The strategy is a bold initiative to restore the health and wellbeing to women and girls by focussing not only on the scaling up of screening and treatment, but also strengthening prevention efforts through the vaccination of girls. It is a bold step taken by Sierra Leone that clearly shows the commitment of the country to promote the rights and wellbeing of women and girls and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as fostering gender equality and women’s empowerment,” Ms. Mululuma underscored.

According to the World Health Organzation (WHO), in order to eliminate cervical cancer, countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of below 4 per 100 000 women. Achieving this goal depends on  a number of pillars and their corresponding targets, including  ensuring 90% of girls are fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15, 70% of women screened by the age of 35, and again by the age of 45 and, 90% of women with pre-cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed.

Speaking at the launch, Dr. Binyam Hailu, from WHO Sierra Leone, said, the strategy will help bring partners and resources together towards achieving the global target of eliminating cervical cancer. WHO, he said, will support the ministry in ensuring the strategy’s full implementation.

The national strategy adopts the current 2022 WHO Global strategic recommendations of 90:70:90 targets for cervical cancer elimination and adheres to public health approaches of primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive interventions across life course.

The launch of the strategy was preceded by the certification of 24 healthcare workers who had just completed a two-week intensive training in the management of cervical cancer. The training was as part of a South-South Cooperation between UNFPA and the Government of the People’s Republic of China, to support the Ministry of Health in the reduction of preventable maternal deaths by improving reproductive healthcare for women and girls and strengthening prevention and treatment of cervical cancer.

Media Contacts:

Islander Kabia | Communications Unit| UNFPA Sierra Leone | e-mail: ikabia@unfpa.org