It is unfortunate that Algeria, reputed to be the locomotive of African countries in terms of health policies, has not adopted and generalized vaccination.
“Let’s stop the massacre!” shout the experts and other white coats in the face of cervical cancer, which is increasingly taking on the appearance of a public health problem in Algeria. The country registers 1500 new cases per year, at the very least, which is far from reflecting the epidemiological reality of this disease to which 80% of women are exposed during their lifetime. Indeed, in Rouiba alone, Professor Hassen Mahfouf Hassen, head of the oncology department at the EPH in Rouiba, mentions 1189 cases. “The figures are increasing every month and the exact statistics on deaths following this type of cancer are not known”, he continues, recalling the enormous cost that this pathology generates for the community. The Pasteur Institute in Algiers has just organized the second meeting on this disease, which was temporarily sidelined by the Covid-19 epidemic, but which is taking the national health system by the throat even more. “Anti-HPV vaccination, essential means in the elimination of cancer of the cervix”. This was the theme of this meeting in which took part: Professors Fawzi Derar and Mohamed Dhakya of the Pasteur Institute, Doctor Djamel Fourar, Director General of Prevention at the Ministry of Health, Professor Hammouda Doudja of the Institute National Public Health Insp, Professor Hassen Mahfouf and Doctor Essoh Alima, Director of the Africa Preventive Medicine Agency. All of them favored the prevention component in the face of the 4th most common cancer in women. Professor Hassen Mahfouf recalled that behind the cold figures hide real human tragedies, with their lots of destroyed homes, children abandoned to their fate, repudiated women… He then insisted on the prevention aspect: “ Looking for the early signs of disease is like detecting the spark before the fire,” he said.
Dr. Essoh for his part pointed out that the incidence of the cervix is higher in North Africa than in the Middle East, for example, insisting in turn on the relevance of screening and especially of vaccination. With regard to the latter, the speaker gave the example of certain countries, in particular Australia and certain countries of Northern Europe, which managed to eradicate cervical cancer after having systematically adopted the protocol vaccination of young girls, around the age of 15. “It is unfortunate that Algeria, reputed to be the locomotive of African countries in terms of health policies, has not adopted and generalized vaccination”, she regretted, indicating that with hindsight, studies show the irrefutable efficacy of the vaccine in eradicating this type of cancer. It is noted in this regard that with a vaccination coverage of at least 50%, the prevalence of HPV (human papillomavirus) types 16 and 18 decreased significantly after the introduction of vaccination. In turn, the participants in this meeting discussed the brakes and other social resistance opposed to vaccination against cancer of the cervix, including received ideas maintained by ignorance.