LESS THAN 50% OF PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF HPV VACCINATION AS PART OF THE PREVENTION OF HPV-CAUSED CANCER

Cancer prevention and screening in our country, what causes the human papilloma virus – HPV and what people do not know about it, anti-vaxxer sentiments against the administration of the vaccine of girls and the boys against the FCV– It is topic in this episode of the podcast of BNR “In the center of the system”.

Guests on the topic are:

Rositsa Pandova – Yovkova – MP from PP-DB and member of the Health Care Commission of the National Assembly

Dr. Gergana Nikolova – member of the Board of the Bulgarian Medical Union and the National Association of General Practitioners and a general practitioner in the capital

Prof. Radka Argirova, Chairman of the National Expert Board on Virology at the Bulgarian Medical Union and member of the HPV Coalition

Momchil Baev, member of the HPV Coalition, ECO’s HPV consultant and founder of the Astra Forum Foundation

“We general practitioners are on the front line in this prevention and prophylaxis. A big problem is that there is no information strategy, no communication strategy and people are not aware of what is offered to them as preventive examinations, he pointed out for BNR Dr. Gergana Nikolova from the Bulgarian Medical Union.

Dr. Nikolova said that in her opinion less than 50% of people are aware of HPV vaccination as part of preventing HPV-related cancer – the human papilloma virus. It is very difficult to convince a person who has never even heard of what HPV causes to get vaccinated.

“Another problem is that we have a MOH program with the confusing name – “Cervical Cancer”. HPV doesn’t just cause cervical cancerand cancer of the penis, anus, vulva, some of them are responsible for lung cancer, this is not a single problem.

I I encounter anti-vaxxer sentiment on a daily basis. It’s paradoxical, but the fear of the vaccine is greater than the fear of cancer. Access to only girls aged 10 to 14 have HPV vaccination in Bulgariafor them the vaccine is completely free, but the vaccine coverage is only 1.5% against 90% for Europe.

However, the vaccine can also be given after the age of 14, it can also be given at the age of 20, maybe after 30 and after 40 years of age, you don’t need to be tested to see if you are a carrier of HPVthe vaccine helps to find the virus that is in the body and not to get sick from tumor diseases.

For me, it is discriminatory that the vaccine is currently only for girls free for this age group, because boys can be carriers without being infected, but they can also develop penile cancer. They do not need to become part of the mandatory Immunization Calendarand for people to be better informed about what it protects against, what causes cancer – that they have an informed choice.

Constant information campaigns among parents are neededbecause every year some of them have to make a decision whether to vaccinate their children against HPV, says Dr. Gergana Nikolova from the Bulgarian Medical Union.

Dr. Nikolova recalled that with the changes in Ordinance 8 on the preventive examinations initiated by the BLS, much has been done for the early detection of oncological diseasesan activity that must also be carried out under the National Anti-Cancer Plan.

You can see the entire material here

Source: Bulgarian National Radio