Mexican women have reasons to celebrate. In order to reduce the rate of cervical cancer, the Mexican capital government has announced a free HPV vaccination campaign for girls from the Federal District.

Human Papilloma Virus is one of the causes of cervical cancer. HPV infects 20 percent of men and women in Latin America, but it does not always result in cervical cancer. When it affects men, it can cause cancer of the penis or anus.

“There are about 100 types of HPV, and just 30 or 40 of them attack the female and male genitals. Moreover, there is an 80 percent chance of getting infected over the lifespan,” explained Nubia Muñoz Calero, Colombian pathologist and physician, a member of the committee of scientists in charge of supervising the HPV vaccine Gardasil’s clinic trials, and nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine 2008.

According to the Mexican governmental Subsecretaría de Prevención y Promoción de la Salud, the mortality rate due to cervical cancer has decreased over the last 15 years. In fact, in 1990 there were 25.3 deaths for 100,000 women. In 2006, the rate was 14.6. However, this decrease was not homogeneous within the country. Most of the Mexican victims are poor women from states with a low human development index.

Nevertheless, cervical cancer can be treated if it is detected early. According to the National Survey on Reproductive Health (2003), just 70.7 percent of Mexican women had a Pap smear in the last three years.

The Pap smear, a method used for early cancer detection, has a low detection rate, and often provides false negative diagnosis, which is why the HPV vaccine is very important, pointed out Muñoz. However, the Colombian scientist warned that the girls vaccinated required early detection tests as well, since the vaccine is not 100 percent effective, to prevent high grade damages and the cervical cancer associated to HPV types 16 and 18.

These HPV types cause between 65 and 70 percent of the cervical cancer worldwide, and in Latin America respectively.

In 2007, the Mexican government launched the Programa de Acción Específico de Cáncer Cérvico Uternino 2007-2012 (Specific Action Program on Cervical Cancer 2007-2012), a comprehensive plan aimed “to reduce the mortality and morbidity rates through the provision of excellent services for the promotion, prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and suffering control, as well as the responsible participation of the population on health care.”

Through the program’s implementation, by 2012, the detection coverage will be 85 percent every three years among women between 25 and 34 years old. Other goals are diminishing the mortality rate among women 25 years old or older by 27 percent, compared to the rate of 2006. Another goal is to reduce the disparities of the mortality rate 50 percent.

It is in the framework of this program that the free distribution of the HPV vaccine was considered.

The Mexican vaccination announcement came after Panama launched a national free HPV vaccination campaign, last October. The Mexican vaccination will cover, so far, the capital city, and will be provided to about 35,000 girls between 11 and 13 years old, in all the health care centers of Mexico City.

As it is a prophylactic vaccine, it has to be applied before the sexual life starts in order to have better results, since the HPV is a sexually transmitted
infection.

Last December, thousands of girls received the first dose of the vaccine, as well as a short information session, which included various sexuality topics and documentation related to gender violence.

The Mexican State, the metropolitan area which surrounds the capital, announced that in 2009, it will implement a vaccination campaign aimed at students in the sixth grade.

The HPV vaccine has been sold in Mexico since 2006, but it was only provided by the private health centers at a high price of 600 US Dollars. The vaccine, in any of its marks, is one of the most costly vaccines worldwide. Panama’s budget for the vaccination of all 10-year-old girls is 5,6 million dollars. For the implementation of the Mexican campaign, the government allocated about 10 million dollars.

“The governments should negotiate the prices with the pharmaceutical laboratories, or work together at regional level in order to get lower cost prices through PAHO’s Rotary Fund,” recommended Muñoz.