A bold step towards a cervical cancer-free future
- March 8, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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A bold step towards a cervical cancer-free future
Subject: Science and tech
Section: Health
Context:
- The interim Union Budget for 2024-25 notably emphasizes women’s health and a standout feature of the budget is its support for vaccinating girls aged nine to 14 years against cervical cancer, representing a crucial step in enhancing women’s health and safety in the country.
The ‘90-70-90’ targets, global programmes:
- Despite healthcare advances, cervical cancer remains a significant challenge in India, being the second most common cancer among women with over 127,000 cases and around 80,000 deaths annually.
- The human papillomavirus (HPV) plays a crucial role in the onset of cervical cancer, prompting the adoption of HPV vaccination as a key preventive measure.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has set ambitious ’90-70-90′ targets for 2030: vaccinating 90% of girls by age 15, screening 70% of women by ages 35 and 45, and treating 90% of women with cervical cancer.
- These goals are central to the global effort to eradicate cervical cancer and highlight the critical importance of India’s initiative for HPV vaccination.
- Globally, over 100 countries have introduced HPV vaccination programs, significantly reducing cervical cancer incidence.
International and regional efforts:
- Notable examples include Scotland, where fully vaccinated women born between 1988 and 1996 have shown no cervical cancer cases, and Australia, which is on track to eliminate cervical cancer by 2035.
- Rwanda’s successful vaccination campaign has markedly decreased HPV prevalence among women, demonstrating the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing cervical cancer.
- In the Southeast Asia Region, six countries, including Bhutan, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, have rolled out national HPV vaccination programs.
- Bhutan, in particular, has achieved a 95% vaccination rate among targeted girls since introducing the program in 2010 and has extended vaccination to boys in 2021. Research in Bhutan has shown a reduction in the prevalence of vaccine-targeted HPV types, evidencing the program’s impact on reducing HPV transmission within the community.
- These international and regional efforts underscore the vital role of HPV vaccination in combating cervical cancer.
The Sikkim model:
- Sikkim’s successful HPV vaccination campaign, achieving a remarkable 97% coverage in 2018, showcases the importance of comprehensive communication strategies in public health initiatives.
- This approach involved educating teachers, parents, girls, health-care workers, and the media about the HPV vaccine’s benefits.
- India’s development of its indigenous quadrivalent HPV vaccine, Cervavac, priced at ₹2,000 per dose and created by the Serum Institute of India in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology, represents a significant advancement in making the vaccine more accessible and affordable.
- The potential expansion of India’s vaccination program to include adolescent boys, alongside recent evidence suggesting that a single dose of the HPV vaccine may offer similar protection as multiple doses, points towards a more comprehensive strategy to combat HPV infections and related diseases.
- HPV vaccination’s impact extends beyond individual health, aiming to reduce the societal and economic burdens of cervical cancer, which predominantly affects women in their prime years and imposes a heavy toll on families and communities.
- By preventing HPV infections, vaccination not only decreases the incidence of cervical cancer and its associated healthcare costs but also promotes the overall well-being and productivity of women, ultimately benefiting society at large.
Meet the challenges:
- India faces challenges such as vaccine hesitancy and ensuring equitable access to vaccination.
- Addressing these issues requires engaging with communities, combating misinformation, and enhancing healthcare infrastructure.
- The introduction of U-WIN, akin to the Co-WIN platform, aims to maintain an electronic registry of all immunizations in the country and allow for real-time responsiveness in vaccination programs.
Source: TH