ESMO attended the 2020 WHO Executive Board Meeting, 3-8 February 2020 in Geneva.
ESMO delivered an official statement on the agenda item regarding the WHO global strategy towards eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem.
ESMO welcomed the WHO strategy and supported WHO’s recommendation that to achieve the goal of 90% treatment and care for cervical cancer cases, countries must implement evidence-based clinical treatment guidelines.
ESMO noted to all WHO Member States that ESMO has guidelines on Cervical Cancer, and Supportive and Palliative Care, which are freely available on the ESMO website, and accompanied by Patient Guides written in a language that patients can understand. In addition, ESMO called on all WHO Member States to fully integrate the WHO cervical cancer elimination strategy into national Universal Health Coverage programs, in order to fulfill their commitment to implement the 2017 WHO Cancer Resolution and to reduce premature deaths from cancer by 25% by 2025 and 33% by 2030.
The WHO strategy was noted and proposed by many WHO Member States to be adopted as a Resolution at the World Health Assembly in May 2020.