KEY POINTS:
Immunising 11-year-old girls against cervical cancer will ensure equitable cover for children across Maori, Pacific and low socio-economic groups, the Cancer Control Council says.
The Ministry of Health is considering whether to include the vaccine Gardasil in its national immunisation programme from 2008.
Gardasil protects against the human papilloma virus (HPV), also known as human wart virus.
A few high-risk types of the virus can lead to abnormal pre-cancerous cells, with two strains of HPV accounting for between 50 and 70 per cent of "high-risk" infections.
HPV is widespread among sexually active women.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced the vaccine will be included in the national immunisation programme across the Tasman from April 2007.
Girls aged 12 to 13 will be immunised, as the vaccine is best given to women before they become sexually active.
Dr Beverley Lawton, of the Cancer Control Council and director of the University of Otago's Women's Health Research Centre, said last week that including the vaccine in the schedule offered a "unique window of opportunity" to address inequalities around cancer.
By administering the vaccine at age 11, while children are at school, all girls would benefit from the vaccine.
Introducing the vaccine would also offer an opportunity for consultation and raising awareness among high risk groups.
Maori and Pacific Island women suffered disproportionately from cervical cancer.
Dr Lawton said there was also a significant association between New Zealand cervical cancer incidence and socio-economic deprivation.
"Maori are a priority target group for the vaccine. Maori women have twice the incidence of cervical cancer and nearly five times the mortality rate of non-Maori women [and] are also more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of disease spread."
Structuring a vaccine intervention in this way would mean inequalities between Maori and non-Maori uptake could be addressed at an early stage in a future population-level vaccination programme.
The council recommended the Government implement an innovative demonstration project in communities where there appeared to be unmet needs around diagnosing and treating cervical cancer.
This demonstration project would have two purposes - allowing the programme to be tailored with community consultation and input, and determining how best to extend the vaccine to older age groups in the community to allow a "catch-up" programme to be most effective, Dr Lawton said.
The national immunisation programme has made its recommendations to the ministry on the vaccine.
The recommendations will not be made public until they are presented to the Minister of Health.
- NZPA
