Other key takeaways from the report include:

HPV awareness affects cervical cancer screening rates: Among women unaware cervical cancer is often caused by HPV, 39.1% have never undertaken cervical cancer screening, which is higher than the global average of 31.2%.

More choice, fewer barriers: The WHO notes age-specific HPV prevalence is highest in young women (<25 years) at 22%. Yet, 43.5% of women aged 21 between 25 - the highest among the age groups surveyed - are deterred by meeting a male doctor performing a pap smear. Therefore, women, especially young women, should be offered HPV DNA tests in addition to pap smear tests. 

Vaccination and screening form a virtuous cycle: For women who had the HPV vaccine, 82.1% had a cervical cancer screening, significantly higher than 60.6% of unvaccinated women. For women who had undergone screening, 45.8% received the HPV vaccine, which is higher than 22.1% of unscreened women. Informing women who missed national vaccination programs about where and when they could get vaccinated and screened is vital.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally, with an estimated 604,000 new cases and 342,000 deaths worldwide. Few diseases reflect global inequities as much as cancer of the cervix, with nearly 90% of the deaths in 2020 occurring in low- and middle-income countries. "Early cervical cancer detection is vital to save lives and eventually eliminate this dreaded disease in line with the WHO's global strategy," said Zhang Lin, BGI Genomics Senior Product Manager. "This study shows increased awareness of women could be the missing link to further boost HPV vaccination and screening rates."

To read and view country or region-level comparisons, please see a link to access the full BGI Genomics State of Cervical Cancer Awareness Report 2023.