HPV vaccine and cervical cancer policy opportunities and implications: Barriers and opportunities for family planning providers

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted disease (STD), certain types of which can cause cervical cancer. Each year, approximately 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 4,000 women die despite the availability of Pap tests and treatments. In June 2006 the Food and Drug Administration approved the first HPV vaccine (Gardasil) for 9-26-year-old girls and women, which is 100 percent effective against two strains of HPV that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that the vaccine routinely be given to girls 11-12 years old, and that girls and women 13-26 years old should receive “catch-up” vaccinations. While most public attention on the HPV vaccine has been focused on whether to make the vaccine mandatory for girls ages 11-12, it remains critical that all eligible women have access to the vaccine – an estimated 80 percent of women will have contracted HPV by age 50. Family planning providers, who provide 2.6 million Pap tests each year, represent the best hope for girls and women ages 13-26 to receive the vaccine. Title X-funded family planning clinics provide high-quality reproductive health care to nearly 5 million women each year, the majority of whom are low-income and disproportionately women of color, populations that are most at risk of developing cervical cancer. This panel will address the opportunities for family planning providers in expanding access to the HPV vaccine, as well as the barriers – especially funding – to providing that access.