Dubai: Age, and not promiscuity concerns, remains the stumbling block in vaccinating girls in the UAE against cervical cancer, said a senior Health Ministry official.
Cervical cancer is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a sexually-transmitted infection. It also causes genital cancers in men. Vaccination against the virus is a controversial topic in the Middle East and other parts of the world, with opponents saying it encourages promiscuity.
Dr Muna Al Kuwarie, head of the National Women's Project at the ministry, told Gulf News there was a need to include the vaccine in the National Immunisation Programme.
Different requirements
"We want to implement vaccines for our girls ... [but] in our society, we still don't know when to implement the vaccine," she said.
She said this was because vaccination has to be done prior to girls becoming sexually active. In the United States and Europe, cervical cancer vaccinations are administered from age nine.
But in the UAE, she said the age to administer the vaccine has to be different from the age requirement in Western countries because the rate of exposure to the virus was different.
"In the UAE, girls have late exposure. They are virgins when they get married. We can't give them the vaccines at the age of eight," she said. "Maybe we will [vaccinate] them at age 15 or 16, same as the German measles vaccination," Dr Muna added.
According to ministry statistics, cervical cancer rate in the UAE is low. However, data on the disease is sketchy, as they are compiled from detected cases registered at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain.
Dr Muna said getting accurate data on HPV-exposure and cervical cancer, and increasing community awareness were important before deciding when to vaccinate the girls.
"We have already implemented a screening programme at primary healthcare centres in Sharjah. Inshallah, we will do the same in other emirates in the next few months, and we will get the data from there," she said.
Few options
Cervical cancer is the second most common killer cancer of women, according to the World Health Organisation.
Available vaccines against the virus are Gardasil by Merck, Sharpe and Dohme, and Cervarix by GlaxoSmithKline.
By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
Published: December 15, 2007, 00:38
Saturday, December 15, 2007
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