ANALYSIS: A real prospect of reducing the incidence of a preventable disease has been lost, writes Dr Muiris Houston
THE DECISION by Minister for Health Mary Harney to withdraw a commitment for a national cervical cancer vaccine programme is a setback for public healthcare in the Republic.
Although it is not the commonest cause of cancer death in women, the programme nonetheless offered a real prospect of reducing the incidence of a preventable disease. HPV stands for human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection.
Although there are in excess of 200 HPV strains, just a small number are associated with the development of cancer of the cervix (neck of the womb).
HPV types 16 and 18 are found in almost 70 per cent of cervical cancers, while another five sub-types are responsible for a further 20 per cent of cases. HPV infection is found in 99 per cent of women with cervical cancer.
Because of this very strong link between HPV and the cancer, giving a vaccine for HPV to a woman before she becomes infected with it has the potential to hugely reduce the number of women at risk of cervical cancer.
HPV vaccines, of which there are two on the market (Gardasil and Cervarix), must be given before the recipient becomes sexually active and contracts the virus. This means administering a comprehensive vaccination programme of three injections over a six-month period to girls aged 11 to 13.
Following the Minister's announcement yesterday, there is no prospect of young girls receiving free HPV vaccine from the State. The only choice for parents will be to pay for the three-part vaccination and have it administered by their GP. The estimated cost of a course of private HPV vaccination is in the region of €600.
The concerns of a number of medical sources at the provisional nature of the original announcement have now been vindicated.
Ms Harney made it clear in August that the preventive programme would only go ahead if the Health Service Executive produced a plan that was cost-effective and one that would guarantee an 80 per cent uptake of the vaccine among 12-year-old girls.But now, even those caveats have been blown away by the cold winds of recession.
The €10 million cost of a non-acute health initiative was clearly too tempting a target in a tight budgetary climate.
