Cancer vaccine boosted by infrastructure for HIV care in Africa

On 19 January, health workers at an HIV care facility run by Mildmay Uganda began vaccinating 500 HIV-positive girls between the ages of 9 and 13 against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). The campaign makes the clinic run by Mildmay, an international not-for-profit Christian organization, the first treatment center devoted to HIV to vaccinate for HPV in Uganda.

AIDS clinics are poised to have an important role in providing essential infrastructure for delivery of the vaccine, Gardasil, which is made by Merck and protects against cervical cancer. Peter Mugyenyi, a world specialist in HIV/AIDS and director at the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Kampala, Uganda says this is part of larger plan whereby governments will integrate HIV services in normal delivery of health care: “We have to be futurists.”

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the developing world. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that more than 274,000 women die of cervical cancer each year and that 80% of these deaths occur in developing countries. (nature.com)