Quad launches multi-million dollar cervical cancer detection and vaccination programme

In an important outreach in the Indo-Pacific, the Quad countries—India, United States, Australia and Japan—on Sunday morning launched a ground-breaking effort to help end cancer.

This will be backed by several hundred million dollars of aid from the governments of the Quad countries, international agencies and medical institutions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will strengthen radiotherapy and medical imaging capacities.

Called the ‘Cancer Moonshot’, it aims to focus on cervical cancer – affecting women. It is largely a preventable disease that continues to be a major health crisis in the region. Targeted programmes will run in several countries that need help in detecting, testing and treating cancer, in turn saving thousands of lives.

“This would lay the groundwork to address other forms of cancer as well”, said a fact-sheet of the event put out by the White House after the Quad Leaders’ Summit ended on Sunday morning (IST) at Wilmington, Delaware on the US East Coast.

Cervical cancer is preventable through vaccination. It remains the third leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the Indo-Pacific region. Fewer than one in 10 women have completed their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.

The ‘Cancer Moonshot’ aims to improve health infrastructure, expand research collaborations, build data systems and provide greater support for cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care. Quad will address gaps by promoting HPV vaccination.

In India, the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence will set up collaborations with FDA India’s work under ‘Project Asha’. 

This new partnership will have oncologists, patient advocacy groups, clinical trial sponsors, and government stakeholders. It would focus on capacity-building and increasing cancer clinical trial access.

India will share technical expertise in digital health through its National Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) portal. As part of its $10 million commitment to support the World Health Organization (WHO) led Global Initiative on Digital Health, India will provide technical assistance to the Indo-Pacific region.

India committed to providing HPV sampling kits, detection tools and cervical cancer vaccines worth $7.5 million. India’s method for cervical cancer screening—the Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA)—would be the model for Indo-Pacific countries.

The Serum Institute of India will source 40 million doses of the HPV vaccine for distribution. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s research focused on enhancing cervical cancer screening will be shared.

The US has committed at least $1.58 billion over five years for the HPV vaccine. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will look to provide critical financial and technical support to expand HPV vaccination access.

Japan is providing medical equipment, including Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners, and other assistance worth approximately $27 million.

The Women investors and philanthropists of the Women Health and Economic Empowerment Network (WHEN) will deploy a joint investment of more than $100 million over the next three years, with funding targeted for cervical cancer in Southeast Asia.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, alongside other donors and countries earlier this year, committed to support cervical cancer elimination with a aid of $180 million over four years. This includes HPV and therapeutic vaccines.

Australian will expand its outreach and increase funding to Australian $ 29.6 million.