Cervical cancer is ‘fastest-rising’ form in Canada as doctors urge action

Cervical cancer has been reported as the 'fourth most diagnosed cancer and fourth leading cause of cancer death among females worldwide.'

Cervical cancer is the “fastest-rising form of cancer” in Canada and a “silent national health crisis” that doctors say the federal government must do more to eliminate.

That was the message from a press conference on Wednesday from the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada in Ottawa, and comes despite the government of Canada’s action plan released in July 2025 that committed to “eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2040.”

“Canada is currently serving a silent national health crisis,” said Dr. Shannon Salvador, president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada, on Wednesday morning. “While many celebrate the advancements in modern medicine, there is an alarming outlier.”

Salvador said that in 2025, an estimated 1,650 Canadians were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 430 would die from the disease, which she said was “avoidable.”

She also said Canada has relied on papanicolaou (Pap) testing and is seeing insufficient levels of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, which can prevent cases of cervical cancer caused by HPV.

Salvador says Canada is now facing some major setbacks.

“For years, we have relied on PAP testing, and our initial enthusiasm for the HPV vaccine upon its first debut in the mid-2000s in Canada, but Canada has now evolved, science has now evolved and our policies have not kept pace,” she said.

Currently, the national HPV vaccine completion rate has stalled at 64 per cent, which Salvador said is “far below the target needed for elimination.”