A big step forward against the disease? Traveling this Tuesday to Jarnac, in Charente, Emmanuel Macron must “make a decisive announcement there to eradicate the papillomavirus”, responsible for 30,000 precancerous lesions of the cervix and 6,000 new cases of cancer in women and men every year, announced the Elysée.
Accompanied by the Ministers of Health and Education, François Braun and Pap Ndiaye, he will go in the afternoon to a college where he “will attend a vaccination session organized within the establishment”, four days before World Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Disease Awareness Day.
Totally eliminable cancers
Extremely common, these infections are usually mild, but they can persist and lead to cancer. HPVs are responsible for 2,900 cancers of the cervix causing more than 1,000 deaths per year, 1,500 cancers of the ENT sphere, 1,500 cancers of the anus, 200 cancers of the vulva or vagina and a 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 ten-year cancer control strategy 2021-2030 aims for a target of 80% within seven years.
The Australian example
Vaccination is now recommended for girls and boys between the ages of 11 and 14. It can also be offered as a catch-up until the age of 19 and remains possible until the age of 26 for men who have sex with men. An experiment carried out in the Grand Est for two years has shown good results among young people schooled in 5th grade, the vaccination rate rising from 9% to 27% the first year and from 14% to 31% 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 aged 18-24, while forecasts expect the eradication of cervical cancer within 15 years.