Australia is on track to eliminate cervical cancer in the next 20 years, making it the first country in the world to wipe out the disease.

A study in the Lancet Public Health journal has shown that if vaccination and screening continue at their current level cervical cancer rates will drop to less than six in 100,000 by 2022 and to below four in 100,000 by 2035. The current rate in Australia is seven cases per 100,000, compared to 10 per 100,000 in the UK.

In 2007 Australia was the first country in the world to introduce routine vaccination for girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus which causes most forms of the cancer. The vaccine was introduced for teenage boys in 2013.

Since then, vaccination and screening rates for cervical cancer have remained high, with 79 per cent of girls and 73 per cent of boys who turned 15 in 2016 being fully vaccinated against the disease.

Including boys in the vaccination programme has speeded up elimination of the disease by two years, the researchers say.

The UK introduced the vaccine for teenage girls in 2008, with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advising earlier this year that it should also be given to teenage boys.