ON Monday over 180 fourth-grade female pupils from Addition Hills Integrated School in Mandaluyong City received free vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), a cluster of viruses that may lead to cervical cancer, among other complications.
Undersecretary Gerardo V. Bayugo and other officials from the Department of Health (DOH) led Monday’s vaccination, which formally launched the HPV school-based immunization program. Under the program, the DOH, with the help of the Department of Education (DepEd) and various local government units, will implement free anti-HPV and cervical-cancer vaccinations in public schools located in the country’s poorest provinces.
“Right now, we are targetting the implementation of the HPV school-based immunization program in 46 provinces of the Philippines,” Bayugo said.
Initially, the HPV school-based immunization program was supposed to roll out sometime in 2015, but then-Health Secretary Janette L. Garin struggled both with funding and flak from sectors that were quick to insist the vaccine might promote promiscuity against its preteen targets. In effect, Garin had to scrap the program and the responsibility for free HPV vaccination then shifted to local government-health centers.
Health advocates have been urging the reinstatement of the school-based immunization program since then, citing the need for a massive information campaign on the importance of vaccination, especially against HPV—a feat that can best be achieved through its inclusion in formal education.
The goal is for students and their parents to be informed about HPV, and how it causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer, which is the second most-common cancer among women, which affects 6,000 and kills 12 Filipino women yearly. Also, thorough education as to why immunization has to happen before an individual starts to engage in sexual activities is of importance. Dr. Cecilia Llave of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of the Philippines (SGOP) and of the Philippine Society for Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy (PSCPC) has previously explained this.
“We want parents and adults to look beyond the concern of HPV as a sexually related disease, or as a stigma of sexual activity. We need to look beyond the thought of our children engaging in sex and becoming sexually mature. It may be an unsettling project, but it is the truth and it is reality,” she said.
Now, the HPV school-based immunization program needs only the consent of a student and their parents in order to administer the vaccine for free.
Monday’s grand launch is expected to be just the beginning for the health and education departments, as 8- to 9-year-old pupils and their consenting parents from the following locations await their turn: Caloocan, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasay, Quezon, Taguig and Valenzuela in Metro Manila; the provinces of Apayao, Ifugao, Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and La Union in the Ilocos region; Pampanga and Zambales in Central Luzon; Quezon, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal in Calabarzon; Camarines Sur and Masbate in the Bicol region; Bohol, Cebu and Negros Oriental in Central Visayas; Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte and the cities of Tacloban and Ormoc in Eastern Visayas; Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Iloilo province and the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod and Dumaguete in Western Visayas; and Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, Davao City, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Sur, Camiguin Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Marawi City in Mindanao.
Image credits: Roy Domingo