“Cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment are neglected in low- and middle-income countries,” though there have been “substantial reductions in death rates and increased access to reproductive health care in those nations in recent years,” according to an essay published on Tuesday in PLOS Medicine, HealthDay reports. The researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, “also outlined why cervical cancer screening and treatment should be included in efforts to improve women’s reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries,” the news service notes. In addition, they “said that the burden of cervical cancer falls on women of reproductive age and that cervical cancer is associated with reduced reproductive capacity” and “that cervical cancer screening and treatment can be integrated into other health services and that recent evidence indicates that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination can protect girls from precancerous cervical lesions” (Preidt, 8/13). “For cervical cancer, we fortunately now have a wide range of feasible, affordable, and effective prevention options, which make dramatic global reductions in cervical cancer incidence a realistic goal in our lifetime,” the authors concluded, according to a PLOS press release (8/13).