–campaign to hit private schools next week

THERE are many myths surrounding the vaccine that guards against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV); myths like: Girls are prone to become sexually active after taking the vaccine, or the vaccine has serious health implications.
But, as the word suggests, they have no factual basis.
At a time when the Public Health Ministry is gearing up to take the HPV campaign to private schools in Guyana, the Director of Maternal Child Health (MCH), Dr. Ertenisa Hamilton,is urging parents not to be swayed by articles or programmes that have no factual or scientific basis.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Dr. Hamilton said some parents, during the outreach programmes, questioned whether there is a link between the HPV vaccine and early sexual intercourse among girls.
“There is this myth that everyone is holding on to as it relates to girls becoming sexually active after they would have received the vaccine. Of course, we have been able to assure parents that there is no relation between getting the vaccine and a student becoming sexually active,” Dr Hamilton said.

The Public Health Ministry has also taken note of the circulation of articles and videos on social media describing the HPV vaccine as “lethal”, but Dr. Hamilton is urging readers to check the sources, arguing that the sources in many cases are questionable.
“Most of the sources that came up are not authentic sources. When you read something, go back into the headline that you see there, and you are going to see that half of them are not legitimate,” she said. “It’s just persons expressing their own views that most of the times have no scientific basis,” she added.

Meanwhile, in a statement on Saturday, the Public Health Ministry disclosed that it will be taking its HPV vaccination campaign to the privately-owned primary and secondary schools next week.
So far, 24 privately-owned schools in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) have been reached by the MCH. MCH has been explaining its current national drive to inoculate 36,000 nine to 13-year-old primary and secondary school girls against HPV, the disease blamed for cervical cancer,the second leading killer of Guyanese women.
In the press statement, Dr. Hamilton said telephone calls to some private schools last week went unanswered, but the MCH, nevertheless, plans to send notices on the issue to all private institutions on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara (EBD) and Georgetown early next week.
With guaranteed support from major international institutions such as PAHO/WHO, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) and local private sector and civil society bodies,the government on Monday re-launched its National HPV Vaccination Programme in Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).

The health ministry stated that even though 21,600 persons voluntarily received the vaccine during the inaugural 2014 – 2016 campaign, it eventually ran out of steam mainly due to a lack of public education, negative local press, and counter-attacks from overseas-based interest groups through their local chapters.
“There were no adverse effects from the administration of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, in Guyana, despite publicly-voiced fears that patients will suffer from injection-site pain, sore throat, swelling, itching, fever, headaches, nausea, tiredness, joint or muscle pain vomiting, insomnia (lack of sleep) runny or stuffy nose or tooth pain, fallouts from the immunising agent,” the Public Health Ministry stated.
These side effects, the ministry argued, are associated with other vaccines publicly and widely embraced.

A historical review of Guyana’s vaccination efforts reveals that in the 1980s, the percentage coverage for BCG used to be at 68 per cent. This figure climbed to 98 per cent by 2016. In 1995, polio coverage was at 87 per cent, and by last year, it is almost totally eradicated. Guyana moved its measles coverage from 67 per cent in 1995 to 100 last year.
Globally, there are some 530,000 new cases of cervical cancer detected annually, which kills approximately 266,000 women or 50.2 per cent.
In the Caribbean, Guyana ranks highest with an incidence rate of 46.9 per cent and a mortality rate of 21.0 per 100,000 persons. Cervical cancer kills an estimated 100 Guyanese women every year, making it the leading cause of mortality among Guyanese women.
Some 33 per cent of these deaths are due to the five leading behavioural and dietary risks: High body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity and using tobacco and alcohol.
“Vaccination is the number one public health success story” in Guyana, notwithstanding the prevailing sentiment among some Guyanese that those diseases do not exist, Dr. Hamilton said. She said, however, that the supposed skepticism disappears when the children of skeptics have to be enrolled in the education system.

The Public Health Ministry has boasted that Guyana’s 40-year-old Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) has been modified over time, and become more robust and efficient through the regular monitoring and evaluation by specialists.
As a consequence, it has been very difficult over the decades for diseases to migrate across borders into Guyana from its South American neighbours because of the strength of the country’s immunisation programme, Dr. Hamilton pointed out.
Success must also be attributed to the political will exhibited by successive Guyanese governments to guarantee the public is protected from all types of diseases.
Currently, the Guyana EPI strategy provides coverage for 16 antigens: Polio virus, Pneumococcal bacteria, Yellow Fever, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus Influenza, Tetanus, Pertussis, Diphtheria, Varicella, Meningococcal bacteria, HPV, Rota virus, Tuberculosis.
Guyana was among the first set of countries in the region of the Americas that eradicated Measles and Rubella. This was certified in 2016.