HPV World - Supporting adolescents in providing consent within the English HPV vaccination programme
15.12.2023
Three vaccines are available that protect against the high-risk HPV types that are responsible for the majority of HPV-related cancers. In England, adolescents are usually offered the HPV vaccine when they are aged 12-13 years old, as it is most effective if administered before sexual debut. Until recently, uptake of the schools-based HPV vaccination programme exceeded the 80% level required to have a significant impact on cervical cancer deaths. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to delivery of the vaccination programme, and national uptake figures remain below 70%. Supporting more adolescents to provide consent could help restore uptake of the HPV vaccination programme to pre-pandemic levels.
Visit websiteThe impact of over ten years of HPV vaccination in England: Surveillance of type-specific HPV in young sexually active females
23.10.2023
This study reports HPV prevalence in young females following over ten years of high coverage HPV vaccination in England. Dramatic declines were observed in HPV vaccine-type and closely related type prevalence in vaccine eligible females. Findings showed no indication of type-replacement. These findings enable confidence in planning for cervical screening, and in predicting declines in HPV-related cancers.
Visit websiteHPV World - Building resilient cancer prevention through gender-neutral HPV vaccination
15.09.2023
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for global action towards the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem with the overarching target of reducing the age-standardized incidence rate of cervical cancer to fewer than four cases per 100,000 women-years. To reach this target, it is recommended, among other measures, to vaccinate 90% of all girls by age 15 years. However, available data show an average 67% coverage among countries that have introduced HPV vaccination. High-income countries could more easily afford the high price of HPV vaccines and although initially targeting their vaccine programs to young girls, they are now increasingly moving towards gender-neutral vaccination to directly protect males from HPV-related cancers and to improve the population-level impact of HPV vaccination despite suboptimal coverage of girls.
Visit websiteHPV World - Understanding HPV prevention and control in women living with HIV
15.08.2023
In November 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its cervical cancer elimination strategy, aiming to reduce incidence to less than 4 per 100,000 women through three interventions: 1) vaccinating 90% of girls by age 15 years, 2) screening 70% of women twice in their lifetime, and 3) treating 90% of women with precancers or invasive cervical cancer. Key to elimination are interventions that are tailored to women with HIV, a population at higher risk of HPV acquisition and persistence and invasive cervical cancer. Modeling studies that explicitly include HPV and HIV synergies can evaluate the long-term impact of interventions on women with HIV, particularly HPV vaccination, cervical screening, and pre-cancer treatment.
Visit websiteHPV World: School-based vaccination is key to reducing HPV-related diseases
13.08.2023
Schools are ideal settings for administering vaccines: they enable access to large numbers of adolescents, are convenient for families, promote peer support and social norms, assist in reducing inequitable access to vaccination and promote high coverage. School-based vaccination is considered the most effective and efficient means of ensuring high vaccine coverage for adolescents especially given the decline in the frequency of visits to primary care practitioners in adolescence compared with childhood.
Visit websiteHPV World - Refining health decision models to evaluate novel screening strategies in low-resource settings
15.06.2023
The decision of whether and how to screen for cervical cancer in low-resource settings depends on feasibility, affordability, and cost-effectiveness. Given the typically long interval between the acquisition of a carcinogenic HPV infection and invasive cervical cancer, health decision models are valuable tools that consider the long-term natural history of HPV and the estimated costs and health benefits of prevention strategies to inform decision-making. However, the true underlying natural history of multi-stage carcinogenesis is neither directly nor completely observed.
Visit websiteHPV World - Modelling 1-dose HPV vaccination
15.05.2023
On 11 April 2022, the World Health Organization’s Strategic Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) revised their recommended schedule for HPV vaccination to allow countries to use either one or two doses for women aged 9-20 years old, based on evidence that a single dose delivers comparable protection against HPV to two doses. On 5 August 2022, the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) also issued interim advice recommending a change from two to one dose in the national schedule, with a final decision expected to be announced imminently. However, both SAGE and JCVI advice is that immunocompromised individuals, including those with HIV, should ideally still receive three doses. SAGE’s recommendations may also enable many countries to introduce routine HPV vaccination for the first time under a one-dose schedule, particularly if they had been delaying vaccine introduction due to HPV vaccine supply constraints, financial pressures or logistic challenges in delivering a two-dose schedule.
Visit websiteHPV World - The road to cervical cancer elimination in Malaysia
15.03.2023
To achieve the WHO’s 90-70-90 three-pillar targets (achieving high-coverage of vaccination, screening and cancer treatment) towards eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem, countries with their own unique circumstances will have to construct each ‘pillar’ differently. In Malaysia, cervical cancer is still the third most common and the fourth most deadly cancer among women. Hence, the argument is no longer whether we should be vaccinating and screening but rather prioritising investments and implementing solutions towards the elimination of cervical cancer.
Visit websiteHPV World - IARC Handbook on cervical cancer screening: value of this evidence synthesis for modeling
15.02.2023
The International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) Handbook on cervical cancer screening (Volume 18, 457 pages) presents and summarizes published evidence on screening methods and practice through narrative and systematic reviews as well as quality assessments.
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