WHO’s HPV guidelines ignore parent’s role

More on the UN’s HPV campaign from my previous story and blog posts. The WHO’s guidelines for countries on how to implement the vaccine notably circumvent the role of parents.

The guidelines recommend a school-based program for 9-13 year olds, recognizing that adding HPV to vaccination programs that target infants and children under five are “challenging.”

WHO offers a long list of “partnerships” to implement the school-based program, which does not include parents. Parents are mentioned in the context of overcoming barriers to implementation of the program.

The nature of the vaccine–against a sexually transmitted disease, and only covering some and not all of the cancer-causing strains of HPV–as well as the target age of recipients requires extensive education for parents, not to mention their consent.

Before this campaign goes global, which UNFPA would like nations to agree to this September, WHO’s guidelines need an overhaul.

View online at: https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/whos-hpv-guidelines-ignore-parents-role/

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