All eligible local schools sign up to HPV programme

All but one Otago school has opted to take part in the cervical cancer immunisation programme for year 8 and 9 girls.

In May last year, the government announced the HPV Immunisation Programme would be funded for young women born since January 1, 1990, using the vaccine Gardasil to immunise against four types of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

The project, which began in general practices last year, is now being delivered to year 8 and 9 pupils in schools.

In other regions of the country the programme is run by the District Health Boards. In Otago, it has been contracted to Public Health South.

Otago project manager Jo-Anne Skinner said only one Dunedin school had so far declined to participate in the school immunisation programme.

‘‘It will be similar to the MeNZB [meningococcal vaccination] programme where an appropriate number of nurses and support people are involved at each school for the number of girls to be vaccinated,'' Mrs Skinner said.

All girls will be required to provide a completed consent form.

To be most effective, the vaccine needs to be given before young women become sexually active. However, the vaccine still provides some protection to younger women who are already sexually active.

The vaccine is administered as a course of three injections in the upper arm, usually over six months.

Along with the school-based programme, the vaccine will continue to be delivered through general practices and alternate primary care providers -prioritising the older girls who are more likely to come in contact with the virus.

‘‘It would have been our preference to do the year 8, 12 and 13 girls in Otago but it was the . . . [New Zealand School Trustees Association's] decision not to target all those age groups.''

The senior pupils would have end-ofyear exams during the time they would need to have their third and final vaccinations, she said.

‘‘They didn't want the girls being disrupted at the end of the year''.

In the North Island, there were already public health nurses in the schools and they had been able to set up the programme earlier, so year 12 and 13 girls were included in the programme along with year 8 pupils. In Canterbury, the DHBs were using GPs only to administer the vaccine, she said.

Between September and December last year, 733 girls in the Otago DHB region south of Oamaru had started the vaccination programme through general practices. Since January 1, a further 54 girls had started the programme.

Queenstown was excluded from the statistics as it was covered by Southland DHB.

In 2010, an extended school programme will be supported across Otago with the aim of reaching the remainder of the school-aged girls eligible for the vaccine.

After that, the programme would continue to be delivered to year 8 girls over 12. Anyone eligible but not under the Otago school-based programme was encouraged to contact their general practitioner.

• For further details, contact the Ministry of Health website: http://www.moh .govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/
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