Poonam Pandey and cervical cancer awareness: What is Centre's vaccination plan announced in Interim Budget 2024?
Actor and model Poonam Pandey's claim she had died due to cervical cancer has turned out to be a stunt.
Actor and model Poonam Pandey's team claimed on Friday that the model had died at the age of 32 due to cervical cancer. The development, which on Saturday was reveled to be a publicity stunt, came on the heels of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the Interim Budget for 2024-25 in Parliament, proposing a plan to encourage vaccination against the human papilloma virus (HPV) to prevent cervical cancer.
Who will be eligible for cervical cancer vaccination programme?
While Sitharaman said that the government will encourage vaccination against HPV among girls in the age group of 9-14 years for the prevention of cervical cancel, the details about the programme were not revealed. According to an ANI report, the government is exploring options to cap prices so that the vaccines to treat cervical cancer become more affordable. The report suggests that, apart from slashing prices, the government will encourage HPV vaccination for cervical cancer through Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities.
ALSO READ- Experts laud govt move on vaccination of girls against cervical cancer
‘Cervavac’: India's recently developed vaccine for cervical cancer
Notably, Indian scientists have recently developed ‘Cervavac’, the first indigenous Human Papilloma Virus vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer and other HPV-associated cancers.
Developed and manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), this vaccine is soon to be included in India’s national immunisation programme in 2024.
ALSO READ- Cervical Cancer Awareness Month: Not just women, HPV vaccine is crucial for young men too; 5 reasons
What is cervical cancer?
Cancer is a disease where cells grow and spread abnormally, affecting humans and almost all other animals. Traces of cancer have been found in human skeletons from ancient times.
There are more than 100 types of cancer, each needing different diagnosis and treatment. One of them is cervical cancer.
In India, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and causes a quarter of the world's cervical cancer deaths, even though it can mostly be prevented. Every year, around 1.25 lakh women in India are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and over 75 thousand die from it. In India, 83% of invasive cervical cancers are linked to HPVs 16 or 18, compared to 70% worldwide.
Union science & technology minister Jitendra Singh at the launch event of ‘Cervavac’ has said that the best way to prevent cervical cancer is by getting vaccinated against human papillomavirus . Types 16 and 18 of HPV together cause about 70 per cent of all invasive cervical cancer cases worldwide.
This story has been updated to incorporate Poonam Pandey's latest social media post that reveals her death announcement to be a stunt.
