News | Press
Posted on 05 March, 2018
On Friday, March 2, 2018, the KLF team attended the Cancer Strategy Meeting at the Legislative Council of HKSAR. The Panel on Health Services listened to cancer-related issues brought forward by different community stakeholders as well as council members.
KLF submitted a written motion to support the Cancer Strategy Meeting with address the fact that HPV is the only carcinogenic agent responsive to a vaccine. Hence we feel that the HKSAR government should favour primary prevention methods, i.e. a universal vaccination program, to prevent cancer and to preserve government funds in the long run. KLF’s proposed suggestions for the government is, to provide universal HPV vaccination for all girls in Hong Kong, as the anticipated program can easily be coupled with the 6th-grade vaccination schedule currently imposed in HKSAR.
Main issues covered in our motion are:
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99% of cervical cancer is caused by HPV, as well as a percentage of a variety of other cancers such as anal, penile, vaginal, and oropharynx cancer.
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71 countries in the world, including Australia, Canada and our neighbour region, Macau, provide universal HPV vaccination to their appropriate aged girls.
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To provide this highly effective vaccine (70-90% effectiveness) to reduce cervical cancer incidence rate is much more cost-effective than treatment via the public healthcare system.
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The Community Care Fund has a program in place to provide free HPV vaccinations to girls in low-income families that meet the criteria for CSSA. However, the vaccine will not reach enough girls to provide an impact on the population.
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The government spent HK$41 billion on health care in the 2013-14 fiscal year, however, only HK$366 million was spent on prevention.
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KLF provides free HPV vaccination for low-income girls via an in-school based program set-up since 2015, with a high uptake rate of 80%. In line with WHO recommendations, we wish that the government should do the same for all girls in 6th grade in Hong Kong.
For more details, please follow the links below:
English version:
Chinese version: