EU advises all girls need cervical cancer vaccines
“European countries may need to examine why HPV vaccination coverage rates ... are not higher and strengthen their vaccination campaigns accordingly.”
A study published last year found that using Cervarix to protect girls against HPV virus is so effective that health authorities who get good coverage rates could start to reduce the need for later cervical screening.
Cervical cancer statistics
- In 2009, 3,378 women in the UK were diagnosed with cervical cancer.
- 936 women in the UK died from cervical cancer in 2010.
- In 2005-2009, around 67% of women in England survived their cervical cancer for five years or more.
While recent studies have also shown that HPV shots can also help protect boys from various types of cancer - including oral, anal and penile cancers - the ECDC said its recommendations did not as yet seek to include young men in vaccination programs.
“The personal benefit of the vaccine for men in terms of cancer prevention is very low,” it said in a statement. “Including boys in the current HPV vaccination programs is unlikely to be cost-effective.”
How common is cervical cancer?
- Cervical cancer is the eleventh most common cancer in women in the UK and the third most common gynaecological cancer after uterus (womb) and ovary.
- There were almost 3,500 new cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in the UK in 2009, that is around 9 women every day.
- Around 6 in 10 of all new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in women under 50 years, that’s around 1,900 cases each year.
- Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under 35 in the UK.
- Overall, cervical cancer incidence in Britain decreased by nearly half between the late 1980’s until the early 2000s, but in the last decade has seen an increase of nearly 10%, mostly in women in their late 20s.
- Cervical cancer accounts for around one in ten cancers diagnosed in women worldwide.
- Worldwide, more than half a million women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008.
- Cancer of the cervix is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in Southern Africa and Central America.
U.S. health authorities advised late last year that all boys should also be routinely vaccinated against HPV. [ID:nN1E79O102]
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By Kate Kelland
LONDON