Cervical Cancer Prevention through Vaccination in Pakistan. Cost-Effectiveness of Prophylactic Human Papillomavirus Vaccination of Preadolescent Girls: A Case Study of Pakistan

      Аннотация: Today cervical cancer is preventable. It has been well established that Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a necessary cause of Cervical Cancer which is highly preventable through prophylactic HPV vaccination of preadolescent girls. This case study of Pakistan estimates the cost per Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) saved and the number of cervical cancers averted by prophylactic HPV vaccination (HPVv) of 12 year old girls.The study assumes that the vaccination program starts in 2015 and coverage rate expands linearly from 14% to 70% of the target group in the first five-years.The benefit of the programme is computed by applying modeling technique over the 100 years.Using the WHO’s recommended discount rate of 3% for public health projects and threshold criterion of cost-effectiveness for the HPVv by the support of the subsidized programme of Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI) is highly cost effective for Pakistan.This research study can help policy makers and donors in designing a strategy for combating rising incidence of cervical cancer not only for Pakistan but can also be replicated for other countries with limited epidemiological, clinical and economic data.

Ключевые слова: Pakistan, Cervical cancer, Preadolescent Girls, Cost-effectiveness, human papillomavirus, prophylactic vaccination