Explained: What India’s first HPV vaccine could mean for fight against cervical cancer | Explained News,The Indian Express
Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection. Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer.
The Serum Institute of India (SII)’s vaccine Cervavac recently received the Drugs Controller General of India’s (DGCI) approval for market authorisation. Cervavac is India’s first quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.
Experts see this as a real opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer, and have expressed the hope that it will be rolled out in national HPV vaccination strategies, and be available a cost more affordable than existing vaccines.
The disease
Cervical cancer is preventable, but kills one woman every eight minutes in the country, said Dr Smita Joshi, senior scientist with Prayas health group, a public charitable trust working on sexuality, gender, and HIV/AIDS. It is preventable as long as it is detected early and managed effectively.
Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection. Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer.
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