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Nation begins initiative to cut rate of cervical cancer
May, 9, 2006-HCM CITY— Around 9,000 Vietnamese women will be vaccinated against a disease previously linked to cervical cancer, one of the biggest health threats, an official from the National Preventive Medicine Department (PMD) said.
Nguyen Van Binh, deputy head of the PMD said his agency would handle the task with support from the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an American NGO.
According to World Health Organisation figures, in 2002 the disease affected 6,224 women in Viet Nam killing 3,334.
Binh said this meant the rate of cervical cancer was very high and the need for vaccination urgent.
Under the PATH project, the vaccine will be provided free of charge to 9,000 girls of between 14 and 15 years and it will be done over the next two years.
The NGO said that Cervarix made by the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline and Gardasil made by the US’s Merck & Co would be used after they proved effective in many countries, including Canada, Australia, Poland, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Binh said the project, once approved by the Ministry of Health (MoH) at the end of year, would reduce the cervical cancer rate by 50 per cent.
If the vaccines worked effectively for Vietnamese woman, the MoH might allow enterprises to further import them in future, he said further.
However, Nguyen Chan Hung, director of HCM City’s Cancer Hospital, said though the vaccine had proved successful in other countries further study was needed to determine if it was suitable for Vietnamese women.
Local experts should identify the kind of virus that infected Vietnamese woman and at what age they reached puberty and became sexually active, he explained.
According to Nguyen Ba Duc, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Cancer Prevention Association, the incidence of cancer had increased rapidly in the country.
It had carried out a survey in 2001–04 of cancer rates in certain cities like Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, Thua Thien Hue, and Can Tho.
It discovered that about 50 per cent of cancer victims were women.
Stomach and liver cancer accounted for the maximum number of deaths. They were followed by cancer of the bronchus, blood, and breast.
