Jakarta, Insertlive –
The Indonesian Ministry of Health recently included the HPV (Human Papilomavirus) vaccine, a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, into the mandatory vaccine program.
As is known, cervical cancer is one of the biggest killers of women in Indonesia, second only to breast cancer.
Along with this news, a public question arose regarding the criteria for women to be given the HPV vaccine.
Many questions arise such as the criteria for sexually active women to receive the HPV vaccine or not to the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine in reducing the risk of cervical cancer.
Launching from detikhealth, Doctor Grace Valentine, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology from Pondok Indah Hospital (RSPI) explained that there are two requirements for women to receive the HPV vaccine.
First, the woman is not infected with HPV and is not suffering from cervical cancer.
That is, women who are sexually active can also receive the HPV vaccine, but must be checked to make sure they are infected with cervical cancer or not.
“So before vaccinating women who are sexually active or have children, we must first make sure that the woman has not been infected with HPV. Second, there is no cervical cancer in the woman. So this vaccination can be useful as primary prevention,” Doctor Grace said.
“This HPV virus is transmitted from sexual activity. You don’t have to change partners, so all sexually active people can be exposed to high-risk HPV, depending on their immunity, lifestyle, body condition, whether they can eradicate it or not,” he concluded.
(dis / syf)
