Georgetown: “Naysayers can bring their concerns to us,” said Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, even as he refuted suggestions that the Human Papilloma-Virus (HPV), which is a strong risk factor for cervical cancer, is known to affect a miniscule amount of women thus a massive programme to combat its impact may be irrelevant.
His assertion comes in wake of a decision to launch a massive vaccination campaign this week to combat HPV and by extension cervical cancer. The move, according to the Minister can be considered the most costly vaccination programme the public health sector has ever embarked on.
“The naysayers will have to come to us with their facts and qualifications, because the Ministry has found that our rigorous approach over the years has been working effectively,” the Minister said, even as he alluded to the fact that the Ministry is not undertaking the programme on its own but rather in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation.
With a primary aim of arresting the potential impact of women contracting cervical cancer and also to prevent other health issues such as genital warts and even cancers of the anus, vagina and vulva, the Ministry of Health made a decision to engage the ambitious programme, which will target mainly young females between the ages of 11 and 13 years, according to the Minister.
“The Government has decided to undertake this programme because we are in the business of prevention. This is not just about vaccinating people, it’s about addressing a real challenge…The cost is significant and I am not in a position to say the actual cost right now because I will have to get this from my technical people but it is a very costly programme,” the Minister admitted.
He explained that the cost of the programme does not only entail the procurement of the vaccine, Gardasil (a vaccine used for the prevention of the Human Papilloma-virus HPV) but also the training of personnel to administer the vaccine, which will be provided free of cost to the recipients.
Reiterating the importance of prevention, the Minister asserted that the Ministry is aware that the effects of the disease is not likely to be felt immediately but rather later in life, perhaps when persons are between the ages of 35 and 50.
“The Ministry doesn’t just go and do things ‘willy nilly’. Our rigorous approach to dealing with health challenges has been proven over the years to be very successful. The Ministry has had success in its prophylaxis programmes and our vaccination programmes can be considered one of the better in the world.”
The programme was first introduced by former Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who had anticipated that approximately $40M would have been utilized to introduce the vaccine to about 25,000 girls and eventually mount to about $60M to cater for 40,000 girls.
According to Dr. Ramsaran, the Ministry is keen on addressing the potential impact of cervical cancer which will be introduced in at least four pilot Regions, including Regions Three, Four, Five and Six, before the programme is expanded. Over a six-month period, some 20,000 doses will be administered at both health centers and primary schools in the identified Regions, Dr Ramsaran said.
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