The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health |
| Posted: 05 Jun 2013 02:42 AM PDT A global Call to Action to universalise cervical cancer prevention is backed up by historic commitments from national leaders and international agencies. EVERY year, 275,000 women die from cervical cancer. India alone accounts for 72,000 deaths – more than any other country – while the top 10 highest mortality rates for cervical cancer are all in Africa. With global attention focused on cervical cancer, which is projected to kill nearly half a million women a year by 2030, key stakeholders from more than 70 countries came together to craft an urgent "Call to Action". The landmark announcement, made at the Global Forum on Cervical Cancer Prevention held recently in Kuala Lumpur, called for universal access to cervical cancer prevention; a strategy that could potentially rewrite the future of millions of girls and women living in some of the poorest countries in the world. The Global Forum was hosted by 30 international partners, including the Malaysian Health Ministry. African progress World leaders and international agencies are heeding the call. Over the past month, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the GAVI Alliance (a public-private global health partnership focused on saving children's lives and protecting people's health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries) have all announced bold steps that will dramatically reduce the number of cervical cancer deaths across the world. Rwanda and Kenya have led the way in Africa. In 2011, Rwanda, with donations from pharmaceutical company Merck, started rolling out the vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer, and in 2014, will receive GAVI funding to support their national programme. In further good news, Kenya also recently began rolling out the HPV vaccine for schoolchildren in one county as part of a HPV demonstration project. "This is a wonderful beginning in protecting girls from the world's poorest countries against one of the leading cancer killers of women," said GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley. "And the new low price we negotiated for the HPV vaccine allows us to immunise more girls, and takes us a step closer towards sustainability." Leaders commended South Africa, which is not eligible for GAVI funding, for taking the bold step of announcing that in February 2014, they too will roll out the vaccine to girls aged nine to 10. South Africa will follow the Pan American Health Organisation's model of negotiating lower prices for the vaccine. "We welcome the South African Government's commitment to vaccinate girls against this deadly disease, which kills more than 3,000 women every year, and is a leading opportunistic infection for people with HIV," said Portia Serote of the Treatment Action Campaign. "We agree with the government that the vaccine is too expensive for South Africa, and we will work with them to ensure that the price is brought down and the vaccine is rolled out successfully across the country so that girls are protected." Going forward International agencies have a key role to play to ensure that the world moves toward the WHO commitment that by 2015, 50% of the 75 focus countdown countries will have introduced the HPV vaccine. "This is an ambitious target, but we must do more. WHO is committed to working with partners to take all steps possible to prevent women worldwide from dying of cervical cancer," said WHO Reproductive Health and Research director Dr Marleen Temmerman. "For that, we need to help girls obtain HPV vaccinations and provide other necessary interventions, such as appropriate screening and treatment options. "Together, we can take a historic step forward, and we must build on the current momentum to deliver for all women and girls." There are already models for the world to follow. Malaysia has made major strides forward with their national school-based HPV vaccine programme, which according to the Malaysian Government, has more than 90% coverage. Decades from now, women in Malaysia will reap the benefits of these policies, protected from this devastating disease. "Preventing cervical cancer is about women's rights to health, and equity in development," said Graça Machel, incoming chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. "The progress being made is encouraging, but we certainly have a long way to go. "It is unacceptable that cervical cancer rates are increasing in developing countries. We urgently need to increase resources so that cancer prevention tools are available to every woman and every girl, everywhere." The launch of the Call to Action paved the way for an exchange of best practice experiences for effective cervical cancer prevention across the globe. Participants also agreed that for universal access to cervical cancer prevention to become a reality, broad multi-sector coalitions must be formed at the national level to ensure that no woman is left behind. "The commitments by international leaders gathered here in Kuala Lumpur is a historic step forward. "If these strong words translate into action, thousands of women's lives will be saved," said Genevieve Sambhi, a cervical cancer survivor and former Miss Malaysia Universe. "Cervical cancer happened to me – it can happen to anyone – but it doesn't need to be this way. Together we can achieve a world free of cervical cancer." |
| Posted: 05 Jun 2013 02:43 AM PDT A new law reignites debate over Germany's baby hatches. GERMANY'S baby hatches, where women can safely leave their unwanted newborns, have come under fire as the German government pushes for a new law to guarantee a child the right to eventually know its mother's identity. At a Berlin clinic, a discreet path winds through springtime flowerbeds to a sign that simply directs visitors to the "Baby Crib" – a steel hatch that opens onto a heated cot where an infant can be left. "An alarm goes off for several seconds," says Gabriele Stangl of the Protestant Church-run Waldfriede hospital in the German capital's leafy, residential Zehlendorf district. "It takes two to three minutes for the nurses to come and get the baby, enough time so the mother can get away without being seen." In the 13 years since the clinic set up the hatch – known in Germany as the "Babyklappe" – the alarm has sounded more than 20 times, especially of late. "For two years we didn't have any, and during the last six months, we had two in five days," said Stangl. The babies tend to be between 24 and 30 hours old, and are cared for by the hospital. They are passed on to an adoptive family unless the birth mother changes her mind within the first eight weeks. Germany has around 100 baby hatches under a system thought to have been common in medieval Europe and through to the end of the 19th century. It was reintroduced 14 years ago in Germany, and has since been adopted by other countries ranging from Belgium to Japan. The chief aim of the baby hatches is to give the most desperate of mothers an alternative to killing their babies or abandoning them in places where they will die. Finding another way While the system is accepted by the churches in Germany, there is no legal framework governing their use, and the method remains controversial. The United Nations (UN) condemned it last year for flouting a child's right to know its origins. Opponents also argue that the baby hatches have done nothing to bring down the number of newborns being killed every year in Germany. According to the non-governmental organisation Terre des Hommes, which is campaigning against the baby hatch, 313 newborns were found dead in Germany between 1999 and the end of last year. Just recently in Berlin, the bodies of two babies were discovered - one abandoned in a plastic bag in a wooded area, the other in a public clothes recycling bin. Terre des Hommes argues that women driven to killing their baby at birth generally suffer psychological conditions so severe that they are unlikely to try and find a baby hatch. In the face of the UN condemnation, as well as criticism from Germany's ethics committee, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has adopted draft legislation to find another solution. The idea is to allow women to give birth without publicly revealing their identity – something about 130 German hospitals already practise, despite a law stipulating that midwives must register the mother's name. The new bill, which must still be voted on by lawmakers, would provide a legal framework to guarantee birth confidentiality. However, the mother's personal data would be kept for 16 years, after which the child would have the right to the information, which some psychologists see as crucial for their emotional wellbeing. Conservative lawmaker Ingrid Fischbach said she believed the new legislation takes into account both "the mother's desire for anonymity and the right of the child to know its origins". But supporters of the baby hatch see things differently. "I believe the right to life takes precedence over the right to know where you came from," Stangl said. "I don't think a child has to fall into a psychological hole simply because it doesn't know where it comes from. When it grows up in an adoptive family that tells it the truth and gives it lots of love, it can become a very stable human being, despite everything." – AFP |
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