It is planned to start vaccination of teenage girls against the papilloma virus (HPV) in November. Press center of the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan reported.
The Acting Minister, Zharkynbek Kasymbekov, announced it at the scientific and practical conference «Vaccine for your future. Let’s stop cervical cancer.»
He noted that planned immunization is a cost-effective public health strategy worldwide. Its implementation allows to dramatically reduce the level of childhood morbidity, mortality and disability in comparison with other medical interventions in the field of healthcare.
The ministry said that cervical cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in women and is a major public health problem globally. For example, about 604,000 new cases of this disease were registered in 2020, 342,000 women died.
According to WHO estimates, about 500 women in Kyrgyzstan are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year.
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in women with an average of 300 deaths per year. To date, the incidence rate in Kyrgyzstan is one of the highest among the countries of Central Asia and in the WHO European Region.
Girls will be vaccinated at the age of 11. The scientific and technical expert group on immunization also recommended to vaccinate girls at the age of 12-14 in the first year of introduction of the vaccine.
