The Rwandan government, in collaboration with two companies, announced today the start of a cervical cancer prevention program uterine first national African country to do so. Companies, Merck and Qiagen, will make substantial donations to help immunize girls against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, and screen adult women to infection by the virus.
Many countries in the Western world have implemented immunization programs against HPV using either Gardasil Merck or another of GlaxoSmithKline. On paper, the vaccine could save many more lives in developing countries where Pap smears to help detect early stages of cancer are not commonly used. But cost more vaccines than $ 300 for three doses has been a major obstacle.
Under the agreement, Merck will donate more than 2 million doses of Gardasil for the first 3 years of a national program targeting girls aged 12 to 15 years. Qiagen will help 250,000 of its testing HPV DNA-based for women aged 35 to 45. Qiagen said the tests are so simple that they can be carried by people with minimal training, even in regions remote.
After 3 years, Rwanda will start to pay for products at lower prices yet to be revealed. Donors should help foot the bill. The companies say they talk to other poor countries about similar programs.
Rwanda will use its network of community health workers to distribute the vaccine, the health minister of the country, Richard Sezibera, said today on the blog of the World Health Sarah Bosely
Rwanda has 60,000 community health workers who help individuals get the care they need. They get women to the clinic for prenatal visits. They help children in the villages get their vaccination plans. We will work with them to ensure that these girls receive all three shots they need.
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