Record low price agreed for HPV vaccines
View infographic to see how GAVI’s support for HPV vaccines will help redress inequity, delivering vaccines to countries with the highest burden. Download as PDF.
2013 is the beginning of a dramatic shift
in women’s health. A record low price for HPV vaccines will open the door for
poor countries to vaccinate millions of girls against a devastating women’s
cancer.
Thanks to
the GAVI Alliance, the poorest countries will now have access to a sustainable
supply of HPV vaccines for as low as US$ 4.50 per dose. The same vaccines can cost more than $100 in developed countries and the
previous lowest public sector price was $13 per dose.
HPV
vaccines are available in the routine immunisation programmes of mostly
high-income countries. And yet of the
275,000 women in the world who die of cervical cancer every year, more than 85%
are in low-income countries where access to cancer screening and treatment
services is often lacking.
The high cost of the vaccine and challenges
of immunising girls aged 9 to 13 years have been barriers to introduction in
poorer countries. GAVI is working to bridge the equity gap by providing the
vaccine at affordable and sustainable prices, and to support countries with
demonstration projects in order to build capacity and infrastructure to deliver
the vaccines.
This price
announcement follows GAVI’s approval of the first countries to get support for HPV vaccines through demonstration
programmes. Over the coming months, eight mainly sub-Saharan African countries
will be the first to deliver HPV vaccines with GAVI support: Ghana, Kenya,
Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, United Republic of Tanzania and Lao
PDR. In 2014 GAVI will support the first nationwide introduction of HPV vaccine in Rwanda, as well as HPV demonstration projects in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
By 2020, it is estimated that over 30 million
girls in more than 40 countries will be immunised.
The vaccine
Safe and effective human papillomavirus (HPV)
vaccines protect against HPV types 16 and 18 which cause about 70% of cervical
cancer cases.
Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer
deaths among women in GAVI-eligible countries. GAVI’s commitment to protecting
women against cervical cancer supports the UN Secretary-General’s Global Strategy on Women’s and Children’s Health to address key global health priorities by
increasing access to life-saving vaccines.
Two application pathways
Countries that have demonstrated
the ability to deliver HPV vaccine to adolescent girls, can apply for national
introduction support. Demonstrated ability is defined as prior experience in
delivering multi-dose vaccines to at least 50% of a target population of 9-13
year old girls in an average-sized district; please
see GAVI new and underused vaccines support (in English and French) for more details. Countries lacking experience can apply for support to conduct
smaller-scale demonstration projects in order to gain the experience necessary
to apply for national roll-out.
Working with partners
GAVI will partner
with cancer, reproductive health and women’s organisations to help countries
deliver HPV vaccines cost-effectively, integrated with other important
interventions for girls such as adolescent reproductive health, HIV prevention,
nutrition, family planning and safe motherhood.
Initial experience
in offering HPV vaccination in Africa, Asia and Latin America has been
encouraging. Lessons learnt documents are available through the Reproductive Health Outlook Cervical Cancer library.
WHO, the Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention, the Cervical Cancer Action coalition and the UNFPA have called for comprehensive
cervical cancer prevention plans that include both vaccination of young girls
and screening and treatment of women.
1http://globocan.iarc.fr/factsheet.asp
