In recent days, the Dongjiao Community Health Service Center of Meijiang District, Meizhou City has become much busier than before, and has ushered in a small peak in free HPV vaccination almost every afternoon.

In recent days, the Dongjiao Community Health Service Center of Meijiang District, Meizhou City has become much busier than before, and has ushered in a small peak in free HPV vaccination almost every afternoon. Zhang Na, a parent who accompanied her daughter to receive the first shot of the vaccine, said happily: "This is a tangible benefit to the people."

Recently, the free vaccination project for Meizhou females of the age of , the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine for girls was officially launched. According to the unified arrangement of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, Meizhou simultaneously carried out the first HPV vaccination work.

Free vaccination project for girls of appropriate age HPV vaccine is the top ten people's livelihood projects in Guangdong Province and Meizhou City in 2022. In November last year, the "Guangdong Province Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Free Vaccination Work Plan for Eligible Girls of Eligible Age (2022-2024)" was issued, proposing that by 2030, 90% of girls under the age of 15 will complete the full immunization of HPV preventive vaccines.

First grade girls receive HPV vaccine accompanied by their parents. Photo by Chen Zeming

Guangdong is the first province in the country to carry out free HPV vaccine vaccination across the province, and the beneficiary population is expected to exceed 750,000 per year. According to preliminary investigation, Meizhou is expected to receive HPV vaccine for free this year for about 29,000 girls in the city who have Guangdong Province student status, newly entered the first grade of junior high school, under the age of 14 and have not received HPV vaccine.

improves cervical cancer prevention and control awareness, reduces the prevalence rate, and improves women's health... An action to prevent cervical cancer is being carried out in Meizhou.

Actively vaccinated

Prevent HPV high-risk virus infection

At the HPV vaccination site of Dongjiao Community Health Service Center, first-year junior high school girls, accompanied by their parents, line up and vaccination certificates, with their ID card, household registration book or student ID card, and stay on site for 30 minutes. During this period, no adverse reactions were observed and they left on their own, and the whole process was in order. Liang Luyin, a first-year junior high school girl at Qinyang School who had just received the vaccine, said happily: "I feel good after the injection, and I feel more at ease."

After receiving the HPV vaccine, I need to stay on site for 30 minutes. During this period, no adverse reactions were observed and you could leave on your own. Photo by Chen Zeming

Cervical cancer is the second largest killer that threatens women's health after the world's first cancer breast cancer , and is gradually becoming younger.

Cervical cancer is the only malignant tumor that can be cured and prevented at present. Zhong Baoyan, head of the cervical specialist and deputy chief physician of Meizhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, told reporters: "Among them, the HPV vaccine is the primary prevention of cervical cancer, which can significantly reduce the incidence of cervical cancer."

However, due to the lack of public awareness of HPV disease and the long-term insufficient supply of HPV vaccines, the immune coverage rate of HPV vaccine in my country is relatively low. "The vaccination rate of adolescents is less than 3%, and the vaccination rate of the entire population is less than 6%." In October last year, at the release and training meeting of the "Guangdong Expert Consensus on the Application of HPV Vaccine Elimination" by the experts at the meeting disclosed this data.

Industry insiders believe that for relatively underdeveloped economic regions such as Meizhou, in addition to cognition, funds are also one of the reasons for the low rate of HPV vaccination. "Therefore, the government needs to provide financial support."

It is understood that Guangdong took the lead in carrying out free HPV vaccination for girls of appropriate age across the province, and provided appropriate subsidies to eastern, western, northern, and areas with weak financial resources in the Pearl River Delta. From 2022 to 2024, the provincial fiscal funding will be approximately RMB 600 million to ensure the development of the project.

Starting from September 2022, Meizhou City will receive HPV vaccine for free for girls with Guangdong Province, who have a student status in Guangdong, have entered the first grade of junior high school in September 2022, have not received the HPV vaccine and are under the age of 14.

"In my country, 84.5% of cervical squamous cell carcinoma is caused by the continuous infection of two high-risk viruses, HPV-16 and HPV-18." Xiao Shengchuan, chief physician of Meizhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, introduced that the use of vaccines for this project is a domestically produced divalent HPV vaccine, and HPV-18 is prevented. "In addition, domestically produced divalent vaccines also have the advantages of only two doses for women aged 9-14."

In fact, Chinese women have the characteristics of HPV infection with , which are young women aged 15-24 and middle-aged women aged 40-44 respectively.Zhong Baoyan introduced that the first peak of infection started at the age of 15, so it is very necessary to get HPV vaccine before the age of 15 to establish an immune barrier, thereby effectively reducing the incidence of cervical cancer.

"It is worth mentioning that the most common infection route of HPV is sexual transmission. Vaccination at the age of 9-14 is mainly used to play a protective role before sexual intercourse." Xiao Shengchuan told reporters that the younger the age, the higher the level of induced antibodies, the better the prevention of cervical cancer. "This is exactly the significance of arranging girls who have entered the first grade of junior high school to get HPV vaccine for free."

fully mobilized

students are willing to also support

students are willing to support

free HPV vaccination, all parts of Meizhou have fully mobilized.

"The transmission routes of HPV are mainly sexual transmission, maternal and child transmission, and skin and mucosal contact." "The bivalent HPV vaccine can prevent 70% of the occurrence of cervical cancer and is suitable for women aged 9-45."... On September 1, in the first class of , the first grade of of Meixian Dongshan Middle School, the newly admitted junior high school girls concentrate on watching the popular science video of cervical cancer from time to time.

The first lesson of the school year begins, and the newly admitted junior high school girls concentrate on watching popular science videos of cervical cancer. Photo provided by the respondent

Yao Shuqin, deputy director of the student department of Dongshan Middle School, told reporters that in accordance with the deployment of the superiors, the school mobilized and promoted girls of appropriate age and parents, popularized HPV vaccine knowledge, and implemented relevant policies of the province and city. "Through the survey, more than 90% of parents are willing to vaccinate their children with HPV vaccine." It is understood that there are 224 new first-year junior high school girls in the school, and 208 people met the conditions and signed up for vaccination.

Qinyang School first-year junior high school student Lu Xinchen told reporters that after the start of school, the school’s teachers taught students and parents the role of HPV vaccine. "Almost all students are willing to get HPV vaccine, and parents also agree and support us to get vaccinated." After the start of school in September, students who meet the requirements will be vaccinated for free in accordance with the principles of informed and voluntary. Girls in the first grade who were unable to receive timely due to special reasons in that year will be included in the vaccination list of the following year after statistics by their school, and will complete two doses of vaccination before the age of 15.

In order to ensure the safety of children's vaccination, Meizhou City has made full guarantees. It is reported that before vaccination begins, the health and health departments of each county (city, district) have made overall arrangements, determined designated vaccination institutions with vaccination qualifications, and conducted relevant business training for vaccination staff.

Take Xingning City as an example. On September 8, the local health and family planning bureau and the Education Bureau held a project promotion meeting. Professionals proposed the implementation requirements and precautions for HPV vaccination, and published the "Letter to Parents" on the WeChat official account, calling on parents to take action so that their children can receive all their children.

"The specific vaccination location and time of each school will be determined jointly by the vaccination unit and the school." The head of the relevant department of the Meizhou Municipal Education Bureau told reporters that each county (city, district) based on actual conditions and mainly safety, conducts vaccination in the nearby health center, community health service center or entering the campus. "Before vaccination, parents need to sign the parents' informed consent form, and then take the children to be vaccinated in an orderly manner according to the notice issued by the school."

"The implementation of this project will help further improve the awareness of cervical cancer prevention and control for girls of appropriate age and improve the health level of women in Meizhou City." The above-mentioned person in charge said.

In fact, in order to cope with the trend of younger cervical cancer and the lack of knowledge about cervical cancer in adolescents, Meizhou City has taken action long ago.

In the first half of the year, schools in Meizhou held public lectures to explain adolescence knowledge to girls of appropriate age and popularize science how to prevent cervical cancer. Photo provided by the respondent

In May this year, Xingning Experimental School held a public welfare lecture on caring for girls, explaining puberty knowledge to girls of appropriate age and popularizing cervical cancer knowledge. According to Huang Yuan, director of the school’s Women’s Committee, Xingning Experimental School is an nine-year school. After the issuance of the "Guangdong Province Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Free Vaccination Work Plan for Female Age for Eligible Age", the school actively implemented it, strengthened the publicity of cervical cancer in daily teaching work, and timely registered and booked girls of Eligible Age.

As a new initiative to benefit the people, the project has attracted the attention of parents. "In the days of school opening, when the school teachers sent provincial and municipal policies to the parent group, parents responded and raised some questions." Huang Yuan gave an example: "The most common question is whether you can get the nine-valent HPV vaccine after receiving the bivalent HPV vaccine? What are the precautions for getting the HPV vaccine?"

In response, Xiao Shengchuan said: "This project requires each dose to choose to use the same manufacturer to produce vaccines for the full process. It is not recommended to get the domestic bivalent HPV vaccine throughout the process and then get other HPV vaccines." He emphasized that those who have been allergic to any component of the HPV vaccine or have severe allergic reactions in the past vaccination cannot get the HPV vaccine; patients with thrombocytopenia and any patients with coagulation dysfunction should be cautious when vaccinating; vaccination should be postponed when suffering from acute and severe fever diseases.

Strengthening screening

Early treatment can achieve good results

"Eliminating cervical cancer, in addition to getting HPV vaccine, regular screening is also required." Zhong Baoyan said.

htmlOn July 6, a screening activity for "two cancers" (breast cancer, cervical cancer) entered Guangdong Meizhou High-tech Industrial Park . During the event, the medical staff of Meizhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital were 500 female employees of the park's corporate age, and conducted cervical screening and gynecological disease examinations, breast cancer screening and and routine health free medical consultations.

prevents and treats cervical cancer, on the one hand, it relies on the one hand to get HPV vaccine, and on the other hand, it requires early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment. "Most of the patients with 'two cancers' discovered through early screening are early stages, and good results can be achieved through early treatment, and the vast majority of women can get effective recovery." said Ling Xiulan, director of the gynecology department of Meizhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

In 2009, Guangdong Province began to launch a pilot project for "two cancers" screening for rural women. From 2017 to 2019, with the support of provincial special funds, the project scope expanded from pilot counties to eastern, western, northern and northern Guangdong and some areas of Jiangmen . In 2020, the free examination of "two cancers" expanded from rural women to urban and rural women, and counties and districts that carried out free examination of "two cancers" accounted for more than 90% of the total number of counties and districts.

Meizhou City has received HPV vaccine for free this year for about 29,000 girls of appropriate age in the city. Photo by Chen Zeming

In 2021, Meizhou City provided free "two cancer" examinations to 40,085 urban and rural women of appropriate age, with 39 confirmed cervical cancer, 313 cervical precancerous lesions, and 44 breast cancer. All cases were found to be treated in a timely manner, so as to achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment.

However, for Meizhou, there are also many challenges in the "two cancers" examination. Zhong Baoyan revealed that the common problems are the lack of professional talents, imperfect systems, and inadequate quality control and training. In addition, women in mountainous areas have poor awareness of screening and even become terrified of "cancer". Many women have thought that there is no cure for treatment after being diagnosed and choose to give up treatment.

To this end, Meizhou City holds free inspection project training for "two cancers" every year to continuously improve the business capabilities of the staff participating in the inspection. Medical institutions at all levels in the city have vigorously carried out various forms of health education and publicity activities, and widely publicized through WeChat public accounts, health knowledge lectures, distribution of publicity materials, short videos, free medical consultations, etc., making women's free inspection policy known to everyone and continuously improving women's awareness of prevention and control.

It is understood that in response to the "two cancers" examination, Meizhou has established a three-level service system at the city, county and town level, and has clarified the management agencies, designated service agencies and the city's diagnosis and treatment institutions in various jurisdictions, continuously improved the management and service models, created a high-quality service system, and continuously improved the service capabilities of the city.

As of now, there are 45 initial screening institutions in the city and 14 further treatment institutions that meet the requirements.

It is worth mentioning that in order to facilitate the public's inspection, maternal and child health hospitals in various counties (cities, districts) in Meizhou regularly transfer services to township medical institutions to provide services to the public nearby, and also provide on-site teaching for township medical institutions. At the same time, in light of the local situation of a large number of migrant workers, maternal and child health hospitals in each county (city, district) have set up regular inspection clinics to provide services to those who have not participated in the inspection for more than the planned time.

According to Zhong Baoyan, Meizhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital has established a green channel, arranged full-time personnel to provide services to referees, established an information interconnection model with screening institutions, and promptly feedback on the examination and treatment results of the visiting patients to the screening institutions.

Voice

Chief of the cervical specialist and deputy chief physician of Meizhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital:

Prevent cervical cancer Start with daily small things

Can you rest assured after getting the HPV vaccine? How to prevent cervical cancer in daily life? The reporter interviewed Zhong Baoyan, head of the cervical department and deputy chief physician of Meizhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

"Vaccines are not safes." Zhong Baoyan said that there are more than 10 types of high-risk HPV. HPV vaccines cannot include all types, and even if they include all types, it does not mean that the preventive effect is 100%.

"Injecting the vaccine only reduces a certain risk, but cervical cancer may still occur. No matter if you are injected with a multivalent vaccine, women of appropriate age still need to undergo regular cervical cancer screening regularly."

"Preventing cervical cancer should start with small daily tasks." Zhong Baoyan said that this includes paying attention to sexual hygiene and menstrual hygiene; changing bad living habits, strengthening exercise, and improving body immunity; quitting smoking and drinking; postponing the first sexual life age, reducing the number of childbirths, and reducing the number of miscarriages; actively treating reproductive tract inflammation; male foreskin is too long , and phimosis should pay attention to hygiene, etc.

Cervical cancer is the first human malignant tumor that can be prevented and treated. Early cervical cancer can basically meet the cure standards, such as the 5-year survival rate of stage I cervical cancer can reach more than 80%.

In response to this, Zhong Baoyan called on: "Women should receive HPV vaccine as soon as possible and regularly screen for cervical cancer; early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment."

ZhiduoD

Currently, there are imported nine-valent, four-valent, imported bivalent and domestic bivalent HPV vaccines in China. The "price" is the abbreviation of preventable types. Simply put, the higher the "price" is, the more preventable types.

Bivalent HPV vaccine

is mainly aimed at the research and development of two most dangerous and most common subtype viruses, HPV-16 and HPV-18. Vaccination with bivalent vaccine can prevent 84.5% of cervical cancer, and the risk of cervical cancer can be greatly reduced in the future. In terms of applicable age, bivalent vaccine is suitable for women aged 9-45, and domestic bivalent vaccines only need to be vaccinated with 2 shots for teenagers aged 9-14.

tetravalent HPV vaccine

tetravalent HPV vaccine On the basis of the divalent HPV vaccine, two HPV-6 and HPV-11 are added. Adding these two low-risk types can prevent the occurrence of genital warts and earlier, and a total of 3 vaccinations are required to complete the entire immune program.

Ninevalent HPV vaccine

Ninevalent HPV vaccine On the basis of the tetravalent HPV vaccine, five HPV subtypes, HPV-31, HPV-33, HPV-45, HPV-52 and HPV-58, can prevent 90% of cervical cancer. In terms of applicable age, the recent application population of nine-valent HPV vaccine has been changed to women aged 9-45, and the vaccination procedure is also 3 shots.

[Source] Southern Daily·Meizhou Observation

[Southern Daily reporter] Chen Zeming

[Correspondent] Mei Weixuan Meijiaoxuan

[Author] Chen Zeming

[Source] Southern Media Group Southern + Client