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Public Health HPV Vaccine Task Force in Ontario
This project aims to build awareness and commitment around the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s call to action for 90 percent of 17-year-olds to be fully vaccinated against HPV by 2025, as well as develop actionable steps that could be taken within the public health sector to increase current HPV vaccination rates compared to previous years.
Background
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set targets in the WHO Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem, for all countries to meet 90% of girls fully vaccinated with HPV vaccine by age 15 as a key pillar in eliminating cervical cancer. Elimination targets for Canada have been set in an effort to eliminate the burden of cancers related to HPV. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has set a call to action around targets of achieving by the year 2025, 90% HPV vaccination coverage in adolescents by 17 years of age. Cervical cancer is almost exclusively caused by HPV and is preventable in a high number of cases. HPV is also related to 80%-90% of anal cancers, 40% of vaginal and vulvar cancers, 40%-50% of penile cancers, and 25%-35% of mouth and throat cancers.
In Canada, HPV vaccination uptake differs across and within jurisdictions, with rates in 2017 ranging from 57% to 91%. In Ontario, the 2018-2019 school year (pre-pandemic) Series completion for human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization programs for 17-year-olds was 61.6 %. The pandemic had a severe impact on the ability for public health to carry out vaccination programs in school settings, and rates dropped as low as 0.8% in 2021.
A recent White Paper by the Federation of Medical Women of Canada (FMWC) identified four key areas as a priority for improving HPV vaccination rates in Canada: Access to vaccines; Education about vaccines; Communicating the benefits of vaccination; Improving cross-ministerial collaborations to establish improved immunization strategies
Public Health HPV Vaccine Task Force in ontario (Task Force)
As part of this project, we invite public health professionals working in areas of school health or immunization to participate in a task force focused on developing actionable strategies and sharing promising practices.
Task Force Purpose
Within an Ontario-specific context, this task force will focus on promoting equity in access to HPV immunization among underserved populations, and strategies for increasing HPV vaccine uptake at a local level that can then be adopted by various regions based on successes shared within the group.
Format
The Task Force will hold six monthly workshops starting in April 2024. Expert advisors will meet between the Task Force’s workshops.
Who should join
Consider joining if you are a public health professional working in the areas of school health and immunization who would like to share evidence of what works in practice, based on your knowledge and experience.
Express Interest
Please complete the form at the link below to express your interest and register.
RESOURCES AND LINKS
To come
Made possible through the financial support of Merck Canada Inc. The opinions expressed are those of its authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Merck Canada Inc.
