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Health advocates urge DepEd to reinstate HPV shots in schools

By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News

Health advocates are calling on the Department of Education (DepEd) to reinstate the Department of Health's (DOH) school-based immunization program for the human papillomavirus (HPV) on the 10th year of HPV prevention in the Philippines.

Dr. Cecilia Ladines-Llave and Dr. May Montellano said that while the funds have been set aside for the revival of the program, it was wholly up to the new department secretaries to get it back on track three years after it was abruptly stopped.

Llave is the program director of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Network while Montellano is the president of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination.

 

 

“This is a new administration so we don’t know exactly what the thrust will be. It now depends on the new Secretary of Health, and there’s a new Department of Education (and) Health,” Llave said.

"But I think the budget is there. It’s done," she added.

Several meetings with then-Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro to implement the program on a larger scale took place in 2013 after the successful administration of the vaccine to 4,000 female students in Cebu City.

However, the doctors said the school program was stopped due to advice from an unnamed DepEd assistant.

“I don’t know why when we were launching the program, they refused- Sec. Luistro refused to have the school be utilized for the vaccination program. But since Dr. Llave did the study on the mother-daughter initiative in the community, we went to the community,” Montellano said.

“I don’t know why he said he didn’t know this HPV program we’re doing and that he had an adviser who advised him against it. We said I don’t think you are telling the truth, that you didn’t know anything about it,” she added.

Then Health Secretary Janette Garin said it was up to the next administration to continue the of the anti-HPV vaccination program in schools.

According to Llave and Montellano, schoolchildren aged 10-years-old from indigent communities in public schools will be given free anti-HPV shots under the DOH’s free immunization program.

The families, and the children themselves, will also be oriented on the importance of vaccines to increase acceptance of the shots among recipients.

 

 

“You get to orient the mothers and family and the child. Because your consent will not only be assent (from the child), but you also need the consent of the parent,” Llave said.

“Kailangan talaga ng information campaign bago ka magbakuna. It’s very important because hindi basta magbabakuna ka lang, kailangan maintindihan nila bakit sila binabakuna, anong purpose ng bakuna, anong benefit (nito),” she added.

Educating parents and children about HPV and the vaccine will also dispel notions that inoculation will lead to riskier behavior as it only prevents the spread of HPV and no other types of sexually-transmitted diseases.

“The main focus is it can prevent cancer because some of the parents will say if you’re going to give the vaccine, you might lead to promiscuity. We said, it cannot be, it’s because it’s only one disease,” explained Montellano.

“There is no specific treatment for this (HPV) and it can cause cancer, so we’d rather have the vaccine be given to these adolescents," she added.

Of the 200,000 schoolchildren given the HPV vaccine in the Philippines in the past 10 years, Montellano said none have shown adverse reactions to virus.

 

 

She and Llave renewed the call for the return of the school-based immunization program to bring awareness to cancer-causing HPV and how it affects both men and women.

 

 

Llave explained that HPV types 16 and 18 caused 75 percent of cervical cancer and 50 percent of vaginal and vulvar cancer, while HPV 6 and 11- both non-cancer causing types- cause 90 percent of anogenital warts in men and women.

 

 

She added that both men and women are susceptible to all forms of HPV and may get cancer from HPV types 16 and 18.

Because it takes a decade for the cancer to manifest, vaccination is recommended as early as age 10 or before sexual contact and 10 years afterwards to increase the efficacy of the vaccine. —NB, GMA News

Tags: humanpapillomavirus
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