On 24 July in Hanoi, the Ministry of Health, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the US-based pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) signed an agreement for technical collaboration on the roll-out of (human papillomavirus) HPV vaccination program in Vietnam from 2019-2021.
UNFPA and MSD will help encourage national and sub-national stakeholders to reduce the burden of HPV-related diseases and facilitate the gradual scale up of an HPV vaccination program and the development of policies to prevent cervical cancer within total budget of USD 400,000.
Statistics show that every day in Vietnam, seven women die from cervical cancer which is caused by HPV. “Evidence from international studies also confirm that a strategic combination of sufficient coverage of HPV vaccination for adolescent girls and sufficient coverage of cervical screening and appropriate treatment for all women can eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem within our lifetime,” said Bant, UNFPA representative in Vietnam Astrid.
(Sources: Vietnam News; Vietnam Plus)
