Yaoundé – Unitaid and Expertise France announce the launch of Phase II of the SUCCESS program – Scale Up Cervical Cancer Elimination with Secondary Prevention Strategy, for the elimination of cervical cancer in ten low-resource countries.
Co-funded by Unitaid and Expertise France through L’Initiative, a French facility that complements the Global Fund against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the SUCCESS project aims to reduce morbidity and mortality from cervical cancer through an effective secondary prevention strategy, notably through HPV screening and the treatment of precancerous lesions by thermal ablation for the most vulnerable women, with a priority for women living with HIV.
After a successful first phase that enabled the screening of 182,093 women, 8.2% of whom are living with HIV, in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guatemala, and the Philippines, SUCCESS 2 is scaling up and will roll out until April 2026 by integrating six new countries: Guinea, Benin, Burundi, Togo, Cameroon, and Ghana.
This innovative project adopts an integrated approach, deploying effective screening and treatment tools, integrating these services into existing healthcare systems, and strengthening awareness and community engagement to increase demand for cervical cancer prevention. By leveraging the lessons from the first phase, SUCCESS 2 aims to extend its impact to contribute significantly to the elimination of cervical cancer on a larger scale.
Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, emphasized the importance of this program: “Cervical cancer represents a preventable burden. Through an initiative like SUCCESS, we can not only save lives but also pave the way towards the eradication of this disease.”
With a total funding of $35,870,767, the contributions from Unitaid and Expertise France illustrate the importance of international collaboration in developing a secondary prevention model for cervical cancer, and advocating for financial and political support at all levels.
Eric Fleutelot, Technical Director of the Health Department at Expertise France, added: “With SUCCESS 2, and thanks to the support from Unitaid and collaboration with our strategic partners, we are strengthening our commitment to women’s health and the fight against cervical cancer. It is another step towards global equitable health and the elimination of this disease by 2030.”
The SUCCESS 2 program is a promising model of international collaboration, blending innovation and community engagement for women’s health. The project will be implemented in close collaboration with local and international partners to maximize the program’s impact and reach. Jhpiego will operate in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, the Philippines, and Guatemala. Médecins du Monde will support efforts in Ivory Coast, Solthis in Guinea, the National Cancer Control Program (PNLCa) will act in Ivory Coast, the PNLNMT in Benin, ANSS in Burundi, and PNLS in Togo.
Contacts for the media:
Unitaid | Hervé Verhoosel, Head of Communications and Spokesperson | +33 6 22 59 73 54 | verhooselh@unitaid.who.int
Expertise France | Dr Lisa Peiching Huang, SUCCESS project director | lisa.huang@expertisefrance.fr
About Unitaid
Unitaid saves lives by making new health products available and affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries. Unitaid works with partners to identify innovative treatments, tests and tools, helps tackle the market barriers that are holding them back, and gets them to the people who need them most – fast. Since it was created in 2006, Unitaid has unlocked access to more than 100 groundbreaking health products to help address the world’s greatest health challenges, including HIV, TB, and malaria; women’s and children’s health; and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Every year, these products benefit more than 300 million people. Unitaid is a hosted partnership of the World Health Organization.
For more information: https://unitaid.org
About Expertise France
Expertise France is France’s public agency and interministerial actor in charge of international technical cooperation, the second-largest in Europe. As a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), it designs and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in developing and emerging countries. Expertise France works in key areas of development: governance, security, climate change, health, education, and more. Alongside its partners, it contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Know-how in common.
For more information: https://expertisefrance.fr
About L’Initiative
Launched at the end of 2011, L’Initiative is a French facility that complements the Global Fund against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It provides technical assistance and support to catalytic projects in around 40 Global Fund recipient countries to improve the effectiveness of grants and strengthen the health impact of the programs funded. As such, it contributes to ensuring the effectiveness of the response to pandemics.
L’Initiative’s recent evolution has demonstrated its catalytic effect through building the capacity of health stakeholders, including civil society and research organizations, improving institutional, political and social frameworks, supporting innovative approaches to respond to pandemics and strengthening systems for health.
It is implemented by Expertise France, the international technical cooperation agency, and is fully funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, which is its supervising body.
For more information: https://linitiative.expertisefrance.fr
