Post
Published on January 31, 2024
On November 22, 2023, Dahdaleh graduate scholar Eric Asempah addressed the urgent global health issue of preventing human papillomavirus infection (HPV) related cervical cancer through prophylactic vaccines in low and middle-income countries.
Cervical cancer claims 342,000 lives worldwide, with sub-Saharan Africa being a major hotspot. Asempah highlighted that 99% of cervical cancer cases are linked to persistent HPV infection, and over 70% are attributable to high-risk HPV (strains 16 and 18). Less than 25% of low-income countries have introduced HPV vaccines in their national vaccination programs, in contrast to 85% of high-income countries. Despite some HPV vaccination programs in sub-Saharan Africa, Asempah explained that at the current rate of progress, it would take approximately 30 years to cover the entire sub-Saharan region with vaccines. A notable contribution by Asempah is the Policy Choice Stability Estimator, a predictive tool he created to aid policymakers in decision-making by analyzing trends, predicting outcomes, provide evidence for justifying new policies, and assessing cost-effectiveness.
Asempah presented a rational approach to prophylactic vaccines in Canada, Rwanda, and Ghana, where all three nations have some form of national health insurance and are in agreement with the WHO's ideal of universal health coverage. Rwanda and Ghana are able to access HPV vaccines through Gavi-assisted programs, while Canadian provinces receive assistance from the federal government. Additionally, the WHO aims to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030 through vaccination, screening, and treatment targets.
Lastly, Asempah proposed a roadmap for prioritizing HPV vaccination programs in low-income settings, suggesting regional collaboration strategies similar to COVAX to validate policymaker choices. He also highlighted the need for collaboration, since a significant number of researchers in HPV and cervical cancer do not reside in highly burdened regions.
Watch the seminar presentation below:
Connect with Eric Asempah
Themes | Global Health & Humanitarianism, Global Health Foresighting |
Status | Active |
Related Work |
N/A
|
Updates |
N/A
|
People |
Eric Asempah, Graduate Student Scholar, Global Health Foresighting Alum
|
You may also be interested in...
Recap — Pandemic Urbanism: Looking at Past Infectious Diseases and Preparing for a Post-Pandemic World
On March 8, over 35 participants attended the launch of Pandemic Urbanism: Infectious Diseases on a Planet of Cities (Polity Press, 2022), co-authored by S.Harris Ali, Creighton Connolly and Roger Keil. Prof. Syed Harris Ali ...Read more about this Post
Recap — Graduate Student-led Research on Probabilistic Modelling with Machine Learning for Safe Water Optimization
On September 7, 2022, Dahdaleh graduate student fellow in the Lassonde School of Engineering, Michael De Santi presented his work analyzing the technical aspects of machine learning used in the Safe Water Optimization Tool (SWOT) ...Read more about this Post
Recap – Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Workshop Enhance Interdisciplinary Research Skills
Professor Godfred O. Boateng and Professor Reginald Quansah (from the University of Ghana) led a hybrid four day-workshop on systematic reviews and meta-analysis from Tuesday, February 20th to Friday, February 23rd. With participants joining from ...Read more about this Post