HPV vaccines can prevent several kinds of cancer as well as genital warts. Here's more information about this topic from the CDC web site (see: HPV Vaccines):
HPV vaccines are given as a series of three shots over 6 months to protect against HPV infection and the health problems that HPV infection can cause. There are three HPV vaccines (Cervarix, Gardasil, and Gardasil 9). Girls and young women should get any of these HPV vaccines to prevent cervical cancer. Two of the HPV vaccines (Gardasil and Gardasil 9) also protect against genital warts and anal cancer in both females and males. Boys should get one of these HPV vaccines to prevent anal cancer and genital warts. Girls can get either of these vaccines to prevent cervical cancer, vulvar cancer, vaginal cancer, anal cancer and genital warts.
One very important aspect of this vaccine narrative relates to the need to provide access to it in developing countries through the efforts of Gavi (see: Stopping Women’s Next Biggest Killer). Below is an excerpt from this latter article:
For women, the act of bringing life into this world has historically meant risking their own lives, with the real prospect of death during childbirth. But, though great strides are being made in reducing maternal deaths in poor countries, those gains could be undone by a growing threat to women’s health. For the first time, the number of deaths caused by cervical cancer every year is poised to outstrip the total caused by childbirth....Since 1990, the number of women dying as a result of childbirth has been nearly halved, to 289,000 per year. Over the same period, however, annual deaths from cervical cancer have increased by almost 40%, to 266,000....By 2035, the disease is expected to cause 416,000 women to die slowly and painfully every year – virtually all of them in developing countries (mostly Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia). The tragedy is that these deaths are almost entirely preventable. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, coupled with screening and treatment, could prevent the vast majority of cervical cancer cases. But almost 90% of the women who die from cervical cancer are in developing countries, where, for too many of them, screening services are unavailable, and treatment even less so....Women with HIV, for example, are particularly prone to the disease. Yet, with better treatments for HIV becoming available, women are now surviving HIV only to die from cervical cancer....Safe and effective HPV vaccines have been on the market since 2006, protecting against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause 70% of all cervical cancer cases....But Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has worked with manufacturers to reduce prices in developing countries. Recently, we secured a record-low price for HPV vaccines of $4.50 a dose, opening the door for millions of the poorest girls to be vaccinated in 27 countries.
Here's more information about Gavi copied from its web site (see: Gavi's mission):
...[W[ith help of a US$ 750 million five-year pledge from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in January 2000 the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) was created. A unique public-private partnership, Gavi was created to bring together the best of what key UN agencies, governments, the vaccine industry, private sector and civil society had to offer in order to improve childhood immunisation coverage in poor countries and to accelerate access to new vaccines.
Gave strikes me as a wonderful cause and worthy of support. As noted above, there has been a global effort to make HIV treatments more available on a global basis and yet many of these treated women are going on the die of cancer of the cervix, a now preventable disease. Here's a link to the on-line Gavi PDF 2013 progress report for your review.
Comments