Cervical cancer is a leading cause of mortality among women. In 2020, an estimated 604 000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and about 342 000 women died from the disease. Cervical cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in 23 countries and is the leading cause of cancer death in 36 countries. The vast majority of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, Melanesia, South America, and South-Eastern Asia. In May 2018, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, issued a call to action for the elimination of cervical cancer. In November 2020, the Director-General launched the Global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer, including the following targets for each of the three pillars for 2030: 90% human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage of eligible girls, 70% screening coverage with a high-performance test and 90% of women with a positive screening test or a cervical lesion managed appropriately. Following the launch of the global strategy, a large panel of experts met to define the key areas of focus to increase access to screening and treatment to reach the 2030 targets. One of the agreed areas of focus was to update the existing WHO recommendations for screening and treatment to prevent cervical cancer, and to simplify the algorithms.