in 2019, 1,350 canadian women developed cervical cancer and 410 women died from it.
“one woman in three who get cervical cancer will die from it. people don’t seem to understand how lethal this cancer can be,” blake said. those who survive it can become unable to bear children because of treatment.
“it is not a nice cancer to get.”
like many illnesses, its impact is unequally spread.
indigenous women in canada, for example, are more likely to get cervical cancer and more likely to die from it than non-indigenous canadians.
blake said a new hpv test that can detect the virus before it causes pre-cancerous changes is also necessary, replacing the long-used pap test. the provincial government has indicated it is committed to switching to the more sensitive test, she said.
while ontario chose one school year in which to make the vaccine available — grade 7 — australia made it available to everyone and is now close to eliminating cervical cancer.
blake suggested hpv catch-up vaccines could be given at the same time covid-19 vaccines are given to younger school-aged children.
ontario’s decision to offer the vaccine in grade 7 when it was first introduced more than a decade ago might make that catch up more complicated, she said.