Over 16,000 girls vaccinated in national HPV eradication campaign – MCH Officer

Jul 10, 2018 News

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Since commencing a vigorous vaccination campaign, the Ministry of Public Health has been able to vaccinate in excess of 16,000 young girls against the Human Papilloma Virus [HPV]. This is according to information recently shared by Dr. Ertenisa Hamilton who holds the portfolio of Maternal and Child Health [MCH] Officer within the Public Health Ministry.
The vaccination programme is one that the Ministry had opted to roll out in the school system with the hope of reaching a wide cross-section of girls before their sexual debut. This is in light of the fact that medical research suggests that HPV is mainly transmitted through sexual contact and most people become infected shortly after the onset of sexual activity.
Medical experts have also deduced that certain types of HPVs can lead to the development of cervical cancer. Reports suggest that there are over 100 types of HPV but two types [16 and 18] are said to cause some 70 percent of cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions.
Guyana has been battling to combat the scourge of cancer deaths, even as the number of cervical cancer cases continues to grow. For this reason, the Ministry decided to take a deliberate stance to help reduce the incidence of cervical cancer by targeting young girls in the school system.
Last year, the Ministry announced that its campaign was gearing to reach more than 36,000 girls between the ages of nine and 16. Although the programme was first introduced in the public education system, it was expanded to private schools as well and has been gaining traction.
Although unable to share the number of schools [both public and private] that the programme has reached, Dr. Hamilton did reveal that the campaign has been introduced in all 10 administration regions.
“The deadline for the first batch, which started last October will be October 2018 but the programme will continue to vaccinate girls in the [target] age group,” Dr. Hamilton said.
Dr. Hamilton had earlier revealed, “We will be working in conjunction with the Ministry of Education to immunize girls in school. We have already begun the partnership with our private paediatricians for mothers who do not want to take their child to have the vaccine at school… and for all girls who we cannot reach, especially those in remote areas and are out of school, to have outreach activities in the regions, in their villages so that we can get every girl within that age group immunized.”
Simultaneous to the vaccination campaign, the Ministry has been fast-tracking a sensitisation programme, which is being supported by its partners including GAVI – a public-private partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries; the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation [PAHO/WHO], the United Nation’s Children Fund [UNICEF], non-governmental organisations, the Ministry of Education and private physicians too.
According to Dr. Hamilton, the efforts at raising HPV awareness have been proving to be quite successful. She revealed that the main means of spreading the word have been through face to face contact and the use of the media.
The ultimate outcome of the ongoing campaign is to realise a decrease in the HPV infection rate and by extension cater to a decline of cervical cancer cases, Dr. Hamilton asserted.
The local HPV vaccination campaign has seen the Ministry of Public Health making use of the vaccine Gardasil. Although some individuals had voiced concerns about the use of the vaccine, the Ministry, through its sensitisation efforts, has been able to dispel these by amplifying that while there could be some possible side effects, these are not life-threatening.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, “the HPV vaccine is very safe and it is effective at preventing HPV. Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects [but] many people who get the HPV vaccine have no side effects at all. Some people report having very mild side effects like a sore arm from the shot [and] the most common side effects are usually mild,” the CDC has reported.
Common side effects associated with the HPV vaccine include pain, redness or swelling in the arm where the shot was given, fever, headache or tiredness, nausea and muscle or joint pain.
Resident PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr. William Adu Krow, had observed that while the vaccination campaign is relatively new to Guyana it has already been administered in several countries with noted success. In fact, he described it as the best chance of preventing cervical cancer.
Dr. Adu- Krow said that according to PAHO/WHO and Public Health data reviews, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among Guyanese women.

 

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