The HPV vaccine would be compensated for the first time in Romania for women between the ages of 18 and 45, given that our country currently only has a free vaccination program for girls and teenagers aged between 11 and 18 years. The announcement was made by the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, who says that the financial resources for vaccine compensation in the near future are from the Ministry of Health and will be transferred to the National Health Insurance House, “so that we can include the vaccines on a list to allow the vaccination of adults or patients with chronic diseases”.
HPV vaccinePhoto: Tobias Arhelger | Dreamstime.com
Every year, around 3,300 Romanian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer. More than half of them lose their battle with the disease, Romania being the EU country with the highest mortality caused by cervical cancer.
Right now, young women and girls over the age of 18 in Romania and parents of boys have only one option: to buy the vaccine. One dose costs around 600 lei, and 3 doses are required for immunization.
Other countries have already been compensating the HPV vaccine for both women and men up to the age of 45 for many years.
“The Ministry of Health is an active promoter of vaccination and allocates very large resources in this direction. With the resources of this Ministry, we vaccinated more than 100,000 girls in the anti-HPV vaccination program. Now is the time for a new approach. After years of discussion, we decided that we can offset vaccines and greatly increase access to vaccination, not just for girls who are already eligible, but also for women between the ages of 18 and 45, and even for boys. The financial resources used to compensate vaccines in the near future are from the Ministry of Health and will be transferred to the National House for Health Insurance, so that we can include vaccines on a list that allows vaccination of adults or patients with chronic diseases. We want to continue to facilitate access for currently eligible categories. The more people we have vaccinated, the better the public health problem can be controlled”, said the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, during a round table with the theme “Fighting cervical cancer – Accelerating progress and eliminating it as a public health problem”, organized by the Renaissance Foundation and hosted by the Embassy of the United States of America in Bucharest.
“To eliminate cancers caused by HPV, partnership and open dialogue are needed. No single entity can control this major public health challenge alone, requiring synergy between civil society, authorities, health professionals. I congratulate you on this occasion for the efforts you are making to build a healthier Romania, for today’s and future generations. Private sector engagement has been and is critical to achieving results, and I commend MSD for its efforts and for making women’s health a long-term priority.” said Her Excellency, Kathleen Kavalec, the ambassador of the United States of America in Romania.
On the occasion of the International HPV Awareness Day, leading medical societies and non-governmental organizations active in the field of health reviewed, together with officials from the Ministry of Health and other relevant institutions, the progress made in the HPV vaccination program. The discussions took place during a round table with the theme “Fighting cervical cancer – Accelerating progress and eliminating it as a public health problem”, organized by the Renaissance Foundation and hosted by the Embassy of the United States of America in Bucharest. In this context, a series of solutions and recommendations have been identified aimed at increasing the vaccination coverage rate among the population, so as to eliminate cancers caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) infection in the future.
During the meeting, the representatives of the Renașteare Foundation emphasized the information and awareness actions among parents, as extremely important support interventions in supporting the anti-HPV vaccination program. The activities within the Campaign to promote the anti-HPV vaccination program – #HotărăștePentruViitor – carried out in the counties of Constanța, Bacau, Iași and Vrancea were appreciated by parents as welcome and useful. According to the parents’ statements, participation in the informative workshops contributed to speeding up the decision to vaccinate their children against HPV. The vast majority of parents, over 80%, stated that they had improved their knowledge of HPV infection and the role of the vaccine. Also, 75% of parents who completed the survey believe that the intervention helped them decide on vaccination, and 56% reported that they plan to vaccinate their child against HPV.
“The existence of this free vaccination campaign, the involvement of institutions and family doctors are extremely important for the vaccination process to be effective. All these efforts to facilitate vaccination and screenings must, however, be preceded by documented information campaigns adapted to the target audience. The #HotărăștePentruViitor information campaign is an example of such collaboration, which contributes to educating the target audience: parents. We are at an unprecedented point in the history of immunization in Romania, where the demand from parents is in a positive trend, starting from the launch of the program in 2020. This campaign allowed doctors to meet parents, face to face, and, increasing awareness and acceptance of anti-HPV immunization”, said Mihaela Geoană, president of the Renaissance Foundation.
Gindrovel Dumitra: There is a need to extend eligibility to boys as well
Also under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, the National Society of Family Medicine and the Romanian HPV Society implemented in parallel an information-educational intervention aimed at front-line service providers – family doctors, medical assistants and community medical assistants. The discussions led to a series of ideas regarding optimization solutions for the national vaccination program communicated on this occasion by Dr. Gindrovel Dumitra, family physician and coordinator of the Vaccinology Group within the National Society of Family Medicine.
“A first aspect that needs optimization for the National HPV Vaccination Program is the elimination of the demand. The request, at the moment, is a useful tool for the Ministry of Health, which was perfectly justified in 2017. But for the rolling of this lump of trust, we should give it up. The second need to improve vaccination is to extend eligibility to boys and we welcome Minister Rafila’s initiative and interest in allowing this extension. We want to reach a level of vaccination of boys similar to that of other countries”, said Dr. Gindrovel Dumitra. The representative of the National Society of Family Medicine expressed his intention to continue the Caravan for doctors in other counties where the vaccination rate is low.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations, professional societies and participating government structures, as well as the pharmaceutical industry – the Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Public Health, County Public Health Directorates, the National Society of Family Medicine, the National Society of Epidemiology, the Association of Family Doctors Bucharest- Ilfov, the Romanian Association for Pediatric Education in Family Medicine, the Renaștea Foundation, the Mame pentru Mame Association and MSD Romania also recognized the progress in the field of anti-HPV vaccination in Romania, expressing their willingness to contribute to the further development of the program. At the same time, the importance of ensuring adequate financing of preventive interventions, which must be seen not as a health expense, but as an investment in the health of Romanian society, was emphasized.
“We welcome the progress of the National Anti-HPV Vaccination Program, the result of the efforts made equally by the authorities, health professionals and civil society representatives. We are pleased to see an increase in awareness and acceptance of vaccination by parents which has also been reflected in an increase in the number of requests for anti-HPV vaccination, year on year. Romania still needs sustained efforts in this regard, considering the need to counter the high burden of cancers caused by HPV infection. We will continue to offer our support to all those involved in eliminating these types of cancers.” said Marcelo Pascual Morales, general director of MSD Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
Almost every sexually active person comes into contact with at least one strain of HPV during their lifetime
The HPV virus (Human Papilloma Virus) is the most well-known viral infection with exclusively sexual transmission in the world, responsible for the appearance of several types of cancer.
Cervical cancer is only the best known and most common, but it is far from the only one. The HPV virus can also cause laryngeal, pharyngeal, penile, vulvar, anal or skin cancer. Almost every sexually active person comes into contact with at least one strain of HPV during their lifetime.
Every year, around 3,300 Romanian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer. More than half of them lose their battle with the disease, Romania being the EU country with the highest mortality caused by cervical cancer. Practically, 5 women in the 20-50 age group die every day in Romania from cervical cancer.
The HPV virus (Human Papilloma Virus) is the most known viral infection with exclusively sexual transmission in the world. Almost every sexually active person comes into contact with at least one strain of HPV during their lifetime.
The only effective way to prevent cervical cancer and diseases associated with HPV infection is the HPV vaccine. The vaccine covers 90% of the HPV virus strains in circulation.
In many cases, the virus is eliminated by the body’s immune system, but when this does not happen, HPV infections can trigger several types of cancer: cervical cancer (most common), laryngeal cancer, pharyngeal cancer, penile cancer , vulvar, anal and integumentary.
Cervical cancer can be detected by the Babeş-Pap test, a simple medical investigation that is free in Romania, and doctors recommend that all women between the ages of 18 and 64 do the test annually. Detected at an early stage, cervical cancer can be treated. However, the large number of cases and deaths in our country shows that few Romanians do this analysis regularly.
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