Five-year net survival for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer

Cervical cancer, which causes nearly 150 000 deaths per year in Asia-Pacific, is also preventable and curable if detected early. The main cause of cervical cancer, which accounts for approximately 95% of all cases, is sexual exposure to the human papilloma virus, HPV. Pap-smear and HPV DNA testing increases the probability of detecting premalignant lesions which can then be effectively treated (WHO, 2014f). In addition, primary prevention by prophylactic vaccines has been shown to be highly effective and offers new potential in controlling the disease (Arrossi et al., 2017).