One example is the HPV vaccination programme for cervical cancer in Rwanda, enabled by a donation from Merck.
This might not be a problem if it were a drug for TB, malaria or AIDS – but critics of the HPV donation asked why cervical cancer received such a comprehensive effort in Rwanda – reaching 95% for 11-year-old girls when disease incidence lags well behind other vaccine-preventable diseases in the developing world (read the Rwandan health minister's persuasive rebuttal).
For cervical cancer, for instance, screening and treatment were considered by some to be more favourable options on a cost-effectiveness basis.
The study, of 119 people with either breast, cervical, intestinal or prostate cancer, found that from three months following diagnosis, those patients who did not trust their doctors were not only more distressed but also more physically disabled.
As for the injection, he hoped the HPV vaccine would save more women from cervical cancer.
America does cervical cancer screening every year, the UK does screening every 3 to 5 years, which means the Americans diagnose more cervical cancers.
These include smoking (which, through the carcinogenic chemicals it creates, causes 86% of lung cancer, 65% of oesophageal cancer, 37% of bladder cancer and 29% of pancreatic cancer), poor diet (51% of stomach cancer and 56% of head and neck cancer), overexposure to sunlight (86% of malignant melanomas) and infection with papilloma virus (almost 100% of cervical cancer).
Most strains are harmless, but a few can lead to cervical cancer, the second most deadly form of cancer in women.In this section Fiscal frustrations Showcasing disunity On the skids The phoenix of New Jersey?
Widespread vaccination could thus make cervical cancer a thing of the past.The physics prize was similarly divided between three people and two studies.
At least 90% of cervical cancer is known to be caused by papilloma viruses, and Dr zur Hausen suspects that all are.
But this week Merck, an American drug company, announced what should amount to a significant advance in the battle against cervical cancer.Cancer, the result of an uncontrolled multiplication of mutant cells in the body, claims some 7m lives around the world each year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and about 10m new cases are diagnosed.
