HPV vaccination has been a *long* time coming to Myanmar. And it is going to take a long time to eliminate cervical cancer.

Jamie

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Myanmar starts cervical cancer vaccination in September
Aung Phay Kyi Soe
Myanmar Times
8 June 2020

The Ministry of Health and Sports plans to conduct the first nationwide vaccination campaign in September to prevent cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV), a senior official said.

Daw Htar Htar Lin, director and programme manager of the Department of Public Health’s Extended Programme on Immunisation, said the campaign will be supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF.

“A cervical-cancer vaccination programme will be conducted for the first time in Myanmar,” she said. "Originally the ministry planned to conduct HPV vaccination in August."

"But now we want to conduct it in September as part of the effort to protect people from COVID-19 because most schools in Myanmar will open," she added.

The ministry submitted the proposal for the vaccination drive to Gavi in 2018. The government will pay 10 percent of the cost while Gavi will pay the rest.

The campaign will target over 450,000 girls between 9 and 10 years old in the country. Health experts recommend that girls receive the HPV vaccine twice in their lives. Those who are vaccinated once are required to receive another dose one year later.

“We expect that it will prevent 90 percent of cervical cancer cases in Myanmar women,” Daw Htar Htar Lin said.

The Health Ministry estimated the cost of the HPV vaccine at US$9 (K13,000) for two doses.

According to a 2018 report by the HPV Information Centre of Myanmar, 6472 cervical cancer cases are diagnosed annually in Myanmar, where it is the most common female cancer in women between 15 to 44 years of age.

Gavi statistics show that worldwide, one woman dies of cervical cancer every two minutes, or 266,000 a year, with roughly 80pc of the deaths in developing countries.

https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-starts-cervical-cancer-vaccination-september.html