Celebrating the power of vaccines to help prevent cancer
WHO
Several forms of cancer are largely vaccine-preventable, including cervical and liver cancer. On World Cancer Day, 4 February 2020, WHO/Europe celebrates progress gained in controlling these diseases and the vital role vaccines play in helping to prevent them.
HPV vaccine
Following more than a decade of use and millions of girls immunized around the world, the evidence is clear: human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are highly safe and effective in preventing transmission of the HPV strains responsible for up to 90% of cervical cancer cases worldwide, as well as most cases of genital and throat cancers.
Recognizing the tremendous potential vaccines offer to speed up the fight against cervical cancer, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros called on the global community in May 2018 to take the necessary action towards elimination of the disease. As requested by the its Executive Board, WHO in consultation with Member States and other stakeholders, developed a draft strategy to accelerate cervical cancer elimination. The draft strategy was presented to the Executive Board in December 2019 and will be considered by the 73rd World Health Assembly in 2020. It provides a comprehensive approach to addressing cervical cancer across the care continuum: vaccination against HPV, screening for and treatment of pre-cancer lesions, early detection and treatment of invasive cancers, and palliative care.
WHO recommends that all countries provide HPV vaccination to girls as part of a comprehensive approach to cervical cancer prevention. To achieve elimination, 90% of girls should be fully vaccinated with an HPV vaccine by 15 years of age.
Each year the list of countries that provide routine HPV vaccination grows, now including 38 of 53 countries in the European Region. Countries that were among the first to introduce the vaccine, including in Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have seen significant reductions in HPV infection and related cervical pre-cancerous disease in teenage girls and young women.
Uzbekistan is the latest country in the Region to implement a nationwide HPV vaccination programme, launched in October 2019. Coverage with the first dose of the vaccine had already reached 92% of 10-year-old girls by the end of last year.
However, many girls and women, in the European Region and beyond, still lack access to immunization and screening services. WHO is working with all countries that do not yet offer HPV vaccination or have not reached high vaccination uptake, to increase equitable access for girls and women to the protection they deserve.
Hepatitis B vaccine
The hepatitis B vaccine is the mainstay of hepatitis B prevention, offering 98–100% protection against the virus, and thereby preventing the development of chronic liver disease and liver cancer. WHO recommends that all infants receive at least 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine and that the first dose be administered as soon as possible after birth, preferably within 24 hours. Some countries of the European Region do not provide hepatitis B vaccination at birth universally to all children. They prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus by screening all pregnant women and then providing the newborns of infected mothers with hepatitis B vaccination and hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIg) at birth.
One of the goals of the European Vaccine Action Plan 2015–2020, as well as the first action plan for viral hepatitis in the European Region (adopted in 2016), is control of hepatitis B through vaccination. In 2018, 72% of countries in the Region achieved the target of 95% hepatitis B vaccine coverage; 83% of the 24 countries that implement universal newborn vaccination achieved a 90% hepatitis B birth dose coverage rate; and, of the 30 countries that implement vaccination of newborns at risk, 37% reached 90% coverage with antenatal screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) (the main marker of chronic hepatitis B virus infection).
WHO is supporting countries to conduct studies aimed at evaluating the full impact of vaccination among the targeted populations and to validate the achievement of hepatitis B control targets in countries that have faced a high or intermediate burden of hepatitis B resulting in chronic liver disease.
