India Ranks Number One in Cervical Cancer Deaths

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Anandibai Kedari, a cervical cancer patient, right, with Sister Flavia at the CIPLA Palliative Care and Training Center in Pune, Maharashtra, on May 28, 2007.

NEW DELHI â€"More women die from cervical cancer every year in India than anywhere else in the world, according to the Cervical Cancer-Free Coalition, an American research and advocacy group that released a “cervical cancer global crisis card” Friday.

The index, which ranked 50 countries, shows India in the top spot in terms of overall deaths, with nearly 73,000 a year. China came a close second, followed by Brazil.

Using the most recent data published by multilateral agencies including the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Bank, the crisis card has also ranked countries by mortality rate in cases of cervical cancer. African countries have the highest mortality rates, with women in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania being most likely to die if affected by the disease.

The rankings were compiled using information from a 2010 report available on the World Health Organization Web site, which says an estimated 72,825 women die of cervical cancer every year in India.  About 134,420 women are diagnosed annually with this disease, the most common form of cancer that is detected in women between the ages of 15 and 44.

“Despite the great burden of this disease there are encouraging opportunities for prevention with breakthroughs in cervical cancer screening in low-resource settings,” Usha Rani Poli of the MNJ Institute of Oncology Regional Cancer Center in Hyderabad, said in a press release issued by the Cervical Cancer-Free Coalition.

“Community mobilization is critical to educate the public on the importance of screening and to break down cultural barriers about discussing sexual issues,” Dr. Poli said.

India, China, Brazil, Bangladesh and Nigeria represent more than half of the “global burden of cervical cancer deaths,” according to release on the global rankings.

An estimated 275,000 women die of cervical cancer every year and 500,000 new cases are reported annually worldwide, the release said.

Two companies that make vaccines against cervical cancer said Thursday that they would reduce prices to less than $5 per dose for the world’s poorest countries, The New York Times reported.  The vaccines that protect against the strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV, that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers, cost almost $130 in the United States.

Experts believe that prices could further come down if millions of more doses were ordered and rival vaccine makers from India and China entered the field, The Times said. Merck’s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix are currently the only two vaccines in the world approved by the World Health Organization, but companies such as Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, are also developing papillomavirus vaccines.

The “crisis card” release was timed ahead of Mother’s Day, to draw attention to the disease, which authors say could cause half a million female deaths annually by 2030.