“NEED TO INTRODUCE HPV VACCINATION IS FELT AS IT IS THE MOST PREVENTABLE CANCER”

This is with reference to news reports in which objections have been raised regarding the state Government’s role in organizing a symposium on cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine and the suggestion that the symposium was an initiative of the state Government to introduce vaccination in the state of Sikkim.

The Department of Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare would like to clarify certain issues to set the records right:

The one day Symposium on HPV vaccine and cervical cancer prevention was organized by the Cancer Foundation of India, a nonprofit voluntary organization dedicated to campaign against cancer based in Kolkata which had Government nominated participants from all the Northeastern States. Sikkim was chosen as a venue for the symposium by the organizers and also had the presence of Government nominated participants from the Department of Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare, Government of Sikkim.

The Symposium had eminent resource persons like Professor G.K. Rath Chief of IRCH, AIIMS, Professor Neerja Bhatla, Professor of Gynecology, AIIMS, Dr Ravi Mehrotra, Director, Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology, Indian Council of Medical Research, and Dr Smita Joshi, Consultant, Jehangir Clinical Development Centre, Pune.

The symposium was a purely scientific meet in which the alarming burden of cancer of the cervix was discussed and the need to take effective and long term measures was debated. Results of various HPV vaccine trails internationally and nationally were presented and discussed.

Since this programme was for policy-makers of the Northeastern states, the focus was mainly on various issues of cervical cancer prevention of which HPV vaccination was a part. It would be pertinent to mention that some of the North Eastern states of India have registered the highest number of Cervical Cancer cases in the county. In Sikkim the second most common cancer amongst women is Cervical Cancer and the need to introduce HPV vaccination is felt as it is the most preventable cancer.

The issue of safety of the vaccine was discussed with recommendation of the World Health Organisation as a safe vaccine. In an audio-visual lecture, Dr R Sankarnarayanan from International Agency of Cancer Research, World Health Organization, highlighted the acceptance of HPV vaccination in over 120 countries including India were this vaccine is available freely and legally in the retail market. He also highlighted the acceptance of HPV vaccination in 51 countries and six Low and Medium Income Countries (LMIC) in their National Immunization programmes. He particularly referred to Bhutan and Malaysia which have successfully implemented HPV vaccination in their population.

The acceptance of HPV vaccination by various countries along with scientific evidence is enough proof to prove the safety and benefit of the vaccine.

Department of Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare