Emmanuel Macron is expected on Tuesday in Jarnac (Charente) where he must “make a decisive announcement to eradicate the papilloma virus”, responsible for 30,000 precancerous lesions of the cervix and 6,000 new cases of cancer in women and men, announced the Elysee.
The Head of State, accompanied by the Ministers of Health and Education, François Braun and Pap Ndiaye, will go to a school in the afternoon where “he will attend a vaccination day organized within the ‘establishment’, explained the Presidency of the Republic, four days before World Awareness Day around diseases induced by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
Cancers that can be eliminated by vaccination
Extremely common, these infections are most often benign but can persist and cause cancer: HPVs are responsible for 2,900 cervical cancers causing more than 1,000 deaths per year, 1,500 ENT cancers, 1,500 anal cancers , 200 cancers of the vulva or vagina and one hundred cancers of the penis.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these cancers can be completely eliminated through screening and vaccination. However, the vaccination coverage rate in France is currently 37% for girls and 9% for boys, while the 10-year strategy for the fight against cancer 2021-2030 aims for a target of 80% in seven years.
Vaccination is now recommended for girls and boys between the ages of 11 and 14 years. It can also be offered as make-up up to age 19 and remains possible up to age 26 for men who have sex with men.
Positive results in Australia
An experiment carried out in Grand Est for two years has shown good results among 5th grade youth, the vaccination rate increased from 9% to 27% in the first year and from 14% to 31% in the second.
In Australia, where vaccination takes place at school, the rate of people infected with HPV causing cervical cancer fell from 22.7% in 2005-2007 to 1.5% in 2015 among young women from 18 to 24 years, while forecasts expect the eradication of cervical cancer within 15 years.
Source: BFM TV
