Many of FAFIA’s members and allies have been inquiring about the new funds in the 2007 Federal Budget for the HPV vaccination.
Here’s a letter from Abby Lippman, Chair, Canadian Women’s Health Network, about this initiative.
Health care dollars better spent enhancing Pap screening programs
To the Editor:
The allocation of $300 million in the budget to address cervical cancer by funding the costs of a vaccine for two strains of the HPV virus associated with the development of this disease is a misleading and mistaken quick-fix approach to a more serious problem: the failure of primary care.
Of the over 100 types of HPV, most are harmless, while others are self-limited infections; most women (perhaps 90%) with HPV infection never develop cervical cancer. In Canada , women who die from cervical cancer are often poor and lack access to health care programs that include appropriate Pap smear testing; Pap smears remain the best tool in preventing cervical cancer when women with identified cell changes are followed up appropriately. In a functional system, no woman should die of the disease.
Pap screening, complemented by HPV testing, still does not reach all the girls and women that it should. The HPV vaccine may also prove to be a useful tool, but we do not yet have the full story on its long-term safety or effectiveness, especially in young girls. Until we know lots more about the currently-marketed Gardasil HPV vaccine, as well as about how effective it actually is in reducing cervical cancer rates, health care dollars may be better spent in enhancing Pap screening programs (including Pap registries), and ensuring they reach the most marginalized populations.
Abby Lippman, Professor of Epidemiology, McGill University
and Chair, Canadian Women’s Health Network
Published in The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
HPV Vaccination Funding
Many of FAFIA’s members and allies have been inquiring about the new funds in the 2007 Federal Budget for the HPV vaccination.
Here’s a letter from Abby Lippman, Chair, Canadian Women’s Health Network, about this initiative.
Health care dollars better spent enhancing Pap screening programs
To the Editor:
The allocation of $300 million in the budget to address cervical cancer by funding the costs of a vaccine for two strains of the HPV virus associated with the development of this disease is a misleading and mistaken quick-fix approach to a more serious problem: the failure of primary care.
Of the over 100 types of HPV, most are harmless, while others are self-limited infections; most women (perhaps 90%) with HPV infection never develop cervical cancer. In Canada , women who die from cervical cancer are often poor and lack access to health care programs that include appropriate Pap smear testing; Pap smears remain the best tool in preventing cervical cancer when women with identified cell changes are followed up appropriately. In a functional system, no woman should die of the disease.
Pap screening, complemented by HPV testing, still does not reach all the girls and women that it should. The HPV vaccine may also prove to be a useful tool, but we do not yet have the full story on its long-term safety or effectiveness, especially in young girls. Until we know lots more about the currently-marketed Gardasil HPV vaccine, as well as about how effective it actually is in reducing cervical cancer rates, health care dollars may be better spent in enhancing Pap screening programs (including Pap registries), and ensuring they reach the most marginalized populations.
Abby Lippman, Professor of Epidemiology, McGill University
and Chair, Canadian Women’s Health Network
Published in The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
03/22/2007
Click here to view the original posting on the CWHN website:
http://www.cwhn.ca/hot/news/default.html#better