Preventing Cervical Cancer from a Young Age (JAKARTA) — The Ministry of Health is expanding the provision of human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization nationally with the aim of reducing morbidity and mortality due to cervical cancer from an early age. The launch was carried out on Wednesday, August 9 2023, at SDN 8 Tondano, North Minahasa, North Sulawesi ,
“The HPV vaccine is very important to protect girls from cervical cancer or cervical cancer. Every year, cervical cancer is recorded in nearly 40 thousand people with a case fatality rate of around 50 percent, because they come too late, apart from screening or early detection, immunization is “The cheapest. If you have cervical cancer, it will definitely be expensive. For this reason, the Ministry of Health is expanding HPV nationally,” said the Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu.
Cervical cancer is the second highest cause of death and one of the largest health financing burdens in Indonesia. Based on Globocan data for 2021, there are 36,633 cases of cervical cancer in Indonesia with the death rate continuing to increase.
The causes vary, but the majority or around 95 percent are caused by HPV infection. Even though it has a high risk of death, cervical cancer can be prevented. One of them is through providing HPV immunization.
Maxi said that providing HPV immunization in Indonesia had started in 2016 in 20 districts/cities and was expanded in 2022 to 112 districts/cities. In 2023, in line with the first pillar of the health transformation agenda, namely primary care transformation, HPV immunization coverage will be expanded nationally.
He added that this time the HPV immunization was targeted at around 2.9 million Indonesian children. Primarily girls aged S grade SD/MI/equivalent (age 11 years for children who are not in school) for the first dose. Next, the second dose is given to girls aged 6th grade of SD/MI/equivalent (aged 12 years).
Providing immunizations for school children is carried out through the School Children’s Immunization Month or BIAS activities. Meanwhile, for children who are not in school, immunization can
be carried out at posyandu, community health center or other health service facilities.
Maxi emphasized that expanding the provision of HPV immunization is part of accelerating the reduction in morbidity and mortality rates due to cervical cancer. For this reason, he hopes that this national launch will be a momentum to gather support from all policy makers, across sectors, and all components of society so that this program can be successful.
“Our collaboration together can certainly accelerate the transformation of health, especially primary care. Immunization is a cheap investment to protect our children from cervical cancer. “Tell the public, especially those who have girls aged 11 and 12 years, to immediately take advantage of the TNI government program,” said Maxi.
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