No Family Should Suffer From Cervical Cancer Twice-The Palliative Care Role in HPV Prevention.

Abstract

Cervical cancer, caused by human papillomavirus infection, is the source of significant personal and societal burden, and robs more than one hundred thousand Indian women and their families of the chances of a healthy and productive life each year. As outlined by the World Health Organization, the three-pronged approach of screening, vaccination, and reduction in mortality by early treatment presents the possibility of the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem in the next decade.¹ Unfortunately, these approaches are all associated with significant barriers in India. Given that the main mandate of palliative care practitioners to prevent and relieve suffering, here we make the case for these practitioners to offer education around vaccination and screening to female relatives of women encountered with cervical cancer. Offering prevention strategies for human papillomavirus aligns with the idea of preventing suffering and is within the scope of palliative care clinicians.