Health at risk: Only 26% of the budget for vaccination against the Human Papillomavirus has been executed | Medicine | HPV | uterine cancer | ECData | PERU

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 100 human papillomaviruses and, although almost 90% disappear, a group is associated with cancer. Viruses 16 and 18 are the ones most closely related to cervical cancer and this is one of the main causes of death in Peruvian women.

The figures of Ministry of Health (Minsa) show that every 5 hours a woman dies from this disease. The vaccine against HPV can prevent most cases, but this has not been applied.

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The budget allocated to this vaccine has been constantly growing until this government. The Data Journalism Unit determined that, for this 2022, the item was reduced by more than S / 6 million. In addition, until June, its execution barely reached S/ 6.8 million (26% of the total). In previous years, by this date more than 40% of the budget had already been executed.

Pilar Collantes, president of Citizen Voiceswho has been promoting the right to vaccination for fifteen years, warned that it is very serious that the available resources are not being used. “You have to understand the meaning of a state policy that talks about the fight against cancer. It cannot be that the necessary resources are not given and that these are not executed”, he points out.

Collantes affirmed that this setback violates the right to health of minors, and puts their lives at risk. “Children with fewer resources are exposed to the virus and, in the future, to a disease such as cancer,” warned the specialist.

low coverage

The Dr. Alfredo Celis, Vice Dean of the Medical College of Peruexplained that, of the total number of people with HPV, 10% will have a persistent infection and 2% of this group will have cervical cancer. “Approximately, more than 90% of patients who suffer from this type of cancer have or have had HPV,” said Celis.. Therefore, it is important to get vaccinated. The level of protection from the vaccine for cervical cancer is high. According to Celis, the vaccine allows to have antibodies and that the impact is less.

In 2021, around 141,000 fewer vaccines had already been applied than in 2019, which represents a reduction of 31%. The regions where the variation in the application of vaccines was reduced the most are Puno, Ucayali, Moquegua, Arequipa and Loreto.

On the other hand, the regions that present the lowest levels of vaccination coverage in the first dose against HPV are Ucayali (1.8%), Puno (3.7%), Ica (4.3%), San Martin (4.4%) and Moquegua (4.5%). None of them reaches 5% coverage.

At the end of March, the Ombudsman He reiterated to the Minsa his concern about the low vaccination coverage.

Vaccination of children

In Peru, the vaccines are only applied to girls between 9 and 14 years old. However, according to the fifth final provision of the regulation of the National Cancer Lawthe Minsa must modify the technical standard for the application of the vaccine also to children, but to date it has not yet been specified.

The Ombudsman It has also emphasized the need to incorporate children as a preventive measure. “Despite the fact that in legal terms, the law is above any norm, the Minsa must implement it to the technical norm, which has not been updated since 2018,” says Collantes.who highlights that without this indication, vaccinators will not be able to apply it to children.

cancer cases

The places with the highest cases of cervical cancer are Lima, Loreto, Junin, San Martin and Tumbes. Loreto tripled her cases, but her vaccination levels dropped by 64%. “We are talking about a region with a high percentage of cases and deaths from the disease. All the more reason creative strategies are needed to improve vaccination coverage”, says Collantes.who warns that it is not possible to have officials who argue that they cannot reach all areas of the region due to their difficult access.

It is precisely these areas that need better strategies, resources and coordination capacity. “The Minsa and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) seem to work separately, since the argument of the former is always that the MEF has observed them. A greater articulation is necessary”, says Collantes..

On your side, Celis mentions that this is a public health problem, since the Minsa has bought vaccines to distribute them for free, which is not being carried out. He maintains that not doing so is also the responsibility of the regions. “They don’t use the vaccine, even though they have it. It is of the utmost importance to apply it or you run a great risk,” he warns..

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