Government to rollout HPV testing in the public sector this year - Health Minister

Government to rollout HPV testing in the public sector this year – Health Minister

Feb 29, 2024 News

The Scientific Conference

By Christal Yong

Kaieteur News – The government of Guyana on Tuesday announced that it will be offering the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) tests to the public sector this year in a bid to tackle HPV.

The announcement was made by Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony at the opening of the HPV Scientific Conference held at the Pegasus Corporate Suites, Kingston, Georgetown.

The conference was a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

The HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection, which usually shows no symptoms and goes away by itself, but can sometimes cause serious illness. HPV is responsible for almost all cases of genital warts and cervical cancer. In light of that, an HPV test may be used to help identify people who have high-risk types of HPV and do need further follow-up tests or treatment.

Minister Anthony said, “HPV testing; right now it is unavailable in the public sector, there are some in the private sector but it is very expensive. The cost of an HPV test in the private sector is $25,000…So we [the government] want to offer that [HPV tests] across the system.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony expressed disappointment with the low rate of persons being vaccinated against HPV.

“In Guyana, we (government) had a remarkable track record, in terms of humanization for the children we give maybe about 15 antigens and our track record has been between 98 to 100 percent, but when it comes to the HPV vaccine, we are way, way, way down at the bottom,” he said.

The minister said the HPV Vaccine is very important. “If cervical cancer is the number 2 cancer among women and this is preventable by this vaccine, then we [the government] want to make sure that every child in this country is protected.”

The Minister noted that it is through the PAHO strategic fund that the government is able to offer the vaccines free to the country.

He explained the procedures, an individual will have to go through if tested positive for cancer.

“It’s a fraction of that cost, if you get that vaccine, on an economic point of view it is much better for us to get everybody vaccinated to prevent this cancer from occurring,” Dr. Anthony explained.

Further, the Minister said his ministry intends to conduct a comprehensive cervical cancer programme

He said, “The first part of the programme we want to emphasize is prevention, how are we preventing this from happening? We need to have HPV vaccination.”

To this end the Minister said that the Ministry will make the HPV vaccine available not only to children aged nine to 15, but also from age 16 to 45.

Meanwhile, the Dr. Luis Codina, PAHO/WHO Representative in Guyana, spoke of the importance of the HPV conference and its relation to the elimination of cervical cancer in the future. He said the conference will also serve as a means of exchanging experiences between Guyana, Chile and Argentina.

He said, “We need to work very smart, in terms of route we have selected, the places, schools, for example, is an excellent place, but we need to work with teachers, to let them understand what really is this vaccine, and the benefits it has for the future.”

cervical cancer, Christal Yong, Dr. Frank Anthony, Health Minister, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), vaccine

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