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2010/09/09

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The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has earmarked 15 billion yen ($180 million) of next year's budgetary requests for its national policy to prevent cervical cancer. This is a highly welcome development.

In Japan, 15,000 women develop cervical cancer annually, with about 3,500 dying of the disease each year. The outbreak rate is particularly high among younger women in their 20s or 30s. Those who survive normally have their uterus removed, preventing them from having children and leaving other heavy physical and psychological damage.

Studies show that human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer, and a vaccine has been developed with an estimated prevention rate of 60 to 70 percent. Its use was approved in Japan last fall. This cancer strain is now largely preventable.

Trial calculations indicate that vaccinating all 12-year-old girls would cost 21 billion yen but lead to savings of 19 billion yen in future treatment and other expenses.

Moreover, the vaccine could prevent the tragedy of women dying at the prime of their lives. Saving their lives would also produce considerable economic benefits for society.

Yet this remains a voluntary vaccination, with the required doses costing around 50,000 yen. As a result, the immunization program has failed to truly take off.

In municipalities such as Otawara in Tochigi Prefecture, which has begun group vaccinations at elementary schools, public funds cover either part of or the entire cost of the vaccination.

However, 10 percent or less of municipalities nationwide offer such services.

Under the ministry's plan, girls in first-year junior high school through first-year senior high school would be targeted for vaccination, with municipalities receiving subsidies equivalent to one-third of the inoculation costs.

Considering the severe fiscal conditions in local communities of late, however, financing the other two-thirds poses a stiff burden. A considerable number of municipalities have yet to start such vaccination programs.

The disease threatens so many lives, but regional gaps in prevention may emerge.

In developed nations, many public funding systems have been established to fight this disease. In Britain, Italy, Australia and Malaysia, as well as certain U.S. states, the entire cost is publicly funded. In France and other nations, health insurance covers the lion's share. The prime priority period for inoculation is the one to two years around the age of 12, and mass vaccinations are carried out.

These countries also channel major resources into health screenings for early cancer detection. Skillfully combining these measures with the vaccine makes it possible to prevent over 90 percent of the cases. That represents a strong step toward eradicating cervical cancer.

Japan needs the same type of approach. Under public funding, girls in the first year of junior high school, for example, could be targeted as the main vaccination age group. Women 20 and above, meanwhile, would be strongly urged to undergo screening. Another key is a long-term perspective in tracking the vaccination's effectiveness.

In Japan, routine vaccinations publicly funded under the preventative vaccination law are limited to eight diseases, including Japanese encephalitis and diphtheria. This is an extremely small number compared with the standards in other developed countries.

Vaccines for the Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib) and pneumococcus bacteria are saving children's lives around the world. Although they have finally been approved in Japan, the high costs hamper expanded use. Measures to protect precious young lives have been made available through rational investment. Advancing such steps should be a top priority in Japan as well.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 8

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