The African Cervical Health Alliance (ACHA) convened a high-level technical engagement on 28–29 January 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together senior government officials, civil society leaders, and technical experts from Kenya, Malawi, and Cameroon. The meeting aimed to strengthen cervical cancer elimination efforts through the piloting of the ACHA ASPIRE Cervical Health Scorecard.
The engagement focused on equipping participants with the knowledge, skills, and tools required to effectively utilize the Scorecard for advocacy, accountability, and policy dialogue within their respective countries. The ACHA ASPIRE Scorecard, is a civil society-led accountability tool designed to translate complex cervical health data into clear, accessible insights that support evidence-informed decision-making across HPV vaccination, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and broader health system strengthening.
Why the Engagement Was Convened
Cervical cancer remains one of the most preventable yet persistent health challenges affecting women across Africa. Despite existing prevention and treatment interventions, progress toward elimination is slowed by gaps in data visibility, uneven service access, financing constraints, and implementation challenges.
The engagement was therefore convened to strengthen how data can be used not just for reporting, but to drive policy conversations, accountability, and coordinated action aligned with the World Health Organization 90-70-90 cervical cancer elimination targets.
Key Discussions and Focus Areas
Deliberations during the engagement centered on the following priority areas:
- Disparities across the cervical cancer continuum, including gaps in HPV vaccination coverage, screening uptake, diagnostic capacity, and treatment access, reinforcing the urgency of coordinated, data-driven responses.
- The role of scorecards as accountability and advocacy tools, highlighting how clear, visualized data can enhance transparency, inform policy dialogue, guide resource allocation, and support cross-country learning while complementing existing national health information systems.
- Stakeholder engagement as a foundation for effective implementation, with emphasis on early collaboration with Ministries of Health, meaningful civil society participation, and alignment with national priorities.
- Practical orientation to the ASPIRE Scorecard platform, enabling participants to interact directly with the interface, review indicator frameworks, and explore processes for data collection, validation, and dissemination.
Country teams developed preliminary action plans, outlining approaches for stakeholder engagement, data sourcing, validation mechanisms, and advocacy application ahead of the pilot implementation in their respective countries.
Outcomes and Next Steps
The engagement strengthened participants’ capacity to effectively use the Scorecard within their national contexts and enhanced collaboration among the three pilot countries. It also reinforced the importance of credible data, sustained partnerships, and coordinated advocacy in accelerating cervical cancer elimination.
As the Scorecard moves into its pilot phase in Kenya, Malawi, and Cameroon, lessons generated will inform refinement and potential regional scale-up. Continued collaboration among governments, civil society, and technical partners will remain essential to sustaining momentum.
Ultimately, stronger accountability, improved data use, and collective action are critical to transforming commitments into measurable health outcomes, ensuring cervical cancer elimination efforts translate into tangible improvements for women and girls across Africa.
