Nearly 150 girls receive rst dose of HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer
According to a report, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the city. Plans are on to create awareness on the importance of HPV vaccine at the community-level
In nearly 50 days, close to 150 girls, aged nine to 14 years, received the rst dose of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, through the State’s rst HPV vaccination initiative that was launched at Adyar Cancer Institute’s screening centre, at Villupuram Government Hospital (GH).
There are now plans to create awareness on the importance of vaccination in the prevention of cervical cancer at the community-level.
‘Silent killer’
According to Jayashree Natarajan, gynaecologic oncologist, Associate Professor, Cancer Institute, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women in India and most of them are diagnosed at an advanced stage.
“It is a silent killer and has no symptoms. So, most women land up in stage two or three of the disease. The HPV vaccine will help in raising the immunity against the causative virus. As a result, women will not be susceptible to malignancy,” she said.
The Crude Incidence Rate (per one lakh population) of cervical cancer was 17.7 in Tamil Nadu, according to the Tamil Nadu Cancer Registry Project report 2018. The CIR of cervical cancer, ranging from 36.2 to 7.2, was observed during 2018 in the State; the highest CIR of 36.2 in Dharmapuri and the lowest of 7.2 was noted in Kanniyakumari. Cervical cancer incidence showed a decreasing trend in Chennai from the last decade. Yet, it was the second most common cancer among women in the city, according to TNCRP report.
The emphasis has been on screening and HPV vaccination for the prevention of cervical cancer. “HPV vaccination is being done world wide, with India trying to bring it under it’s routine immunisation schedule,” she said, adding: “The International
Papillomavirus Society is propagating vaccination and screening through the tagline of ‘One less worry’, meaning that vaccine will help reduce worries when a girl grows into a woman.”
In India, Sikkim and two districts of Punjab, already have HPV vaccination programmes, while opportunistic vaccination was available in Delhi, she said.
The vaccination programme was rolled out at the Villupuram GH during early March.
“Despite the conduct of examinations when the initiative was rolled out, we have had nearly 150 children getting the rst dose of the vaccine. Two doses are administered at an interval of six months. We want to catch up during the summer vacation and create awareness on the importance of HPV vaccination at the communitylevel. The vaccine is administered free of cost and there have been no reported side eects among those vaccinated,” Dr. Jayashree added.