In Kazakhstan, about 2,100 cases of cervical cancer are registered annually, and about 600 women die from it, Zakon.kz reports.
As the chief oncologist of the Ministry of Health Dilyara Kaidarova said, breast cancer ranks first among women in Kazakhstan, followed by cervical cancer. Every two days, three women in the country die from cervical cancer. In this regard, free vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) for girls aged 11-13 began in September in Kazakhstan.
“Over the first eight months of 2024, 305 women died from cervical cancer in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, 15% of cases are detected at a late stage. The disease is asymptomatic,” Dilyara Kaidarova said at a press conference at the Central Communications Service on September 24.
She noted that treatment of cervical cancer at the initial stage costs from 500 thousand to 2 million tenge. The cost of fighting cancer at the third and fourth stages reaches 30 million tenge.
Head of the Department for Control of Vaccine-Preventable Infections of the Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Control of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurshai Azimbaeva reported that almost 350 thousand doses of the American vaccine “Gardasil” against HPV have been purchased for this year. The first batch of 173 thousand doses has already been delivered to doctors. 9.7 billion tenge were allocated from the budget for the purchase of the vaccine.
Head of the Department of the National Center for Expertise of Medicines and Medical Devices Malik Abdrakhmanov emphasized that the vaccine is safe and meets the highest international standards.
“Adverse reactions to vaccination are rare, most often there is an emotional reaction, usually fainting. There are also allergic reactions, but they are extremely rare,” he said.
Girls will be vaccinated in school medical offices after receiving informed consent from parents or legal representatives. At the parents’ request, vaccination can also be carried out in clinics at the place of registration.
It was previously reported that the HPV vaccination campaign had started in Astana. 13,000 11-year-old girls are scheduled to be vaccinated.
