MNEA joins NEA Health Information
Network in HPV Coalition
| What’s
HIN?
The
Health Information Network (HIN), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
organization, was founded in 1987. NEA HIN’s mission
is to improve health, safety and student achievement
by providing school employees with vital, effective
and timely health information. A non-profit organization,
HIN raises most of its own operational and program funds
from government agencies, corporations and private foundations.
HIN develops and implements programs that promote the
practice of healthy behaviors and decision making both
inside and outside the school environment. HIN projects
address numerous public health issues, including indoor
environmental quality and asthma; cancer prevention
and screening; mental health and wellness; sexual and
reproductive health; parent-child communication; physical
activity, nutrition and obesity prevention; and school
and community safety, including Internet safety. For
more information about NEA HIN, visit www.neahin.org. |
To
find the health center
nearest you, visit the Missouri
HPV Coalition Web site at www.mohpv.org. |
The NEA Health Information Network, Missouri NEA and others
have joined forces to create the Missouri HPV Coalition. The
coalition strives to increase HPV awareness and outreach to
all Missouri girls and women, and to provide proactive and
progressive policy initiatives to provide low-income Missouri
girls and women access to the HPV vaccine. The coalition has
developed a Web site that compiles medically accurate, fact-based
educational materials to assist MNEA members, parents and
the community-at-large to raise awareness about HPV and its
connection to cervical cancer. The Web site will provide information,
including the names of local clinics providing the HPV vaccine
free of charge. For more information, visit the Missouri HPV
Coalition Web site at www.mohpv.org. There, you’ll find
ready-to-print-and-copy resources that you can share with
students, parents and other members of the school community.
The facts about HPV and cervical cancer
Four out of every five women in the United States
have been infected with Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the virus
that causes cervical cancer, at some point in their lives.
HPV, a sexually transmitted infection, often resolves without
treatment, but it some cases it leads to conditions such as
pre-cancerous abnormalities, genital warts, cervical cancer,
and other types of cancer in men and women. There is no treatment
for HPV infection, though pre-cancerous abnormalities may
be treated if detected early through routine Pap screening.
More than 11,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed
in the United States every year, and 4,000 women die of the
disease. Routine Pap tests can find abnormal cells in the
cervix early, before they develop into cancer. Over half of
all U.S. women diagnosed with cervical cancer have not had
a Pap test in the past three years. Cervical cancer disproportionately
affects women of color and low-income women. In Missouri,
African-American women succumb to cervical cancer at over
twice the rate of Caucasian women.
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved
Gardasil® (Merck), the first HPV vaccine for girls and
women ages 9–26. In clinical trials, the vaccine proved
to be over 99 percent effective in preventing two types of
HPV that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer (types 16 &
18); and two types of HPV that cause 90 percent of genital
warts (types 6 & 11). Widespread vaccination, combined
with regular Pap screening, will dramatically reduce cervical
cancer deaths and pain and suffering associated with treatment.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends
administration of the vaccine to girls ages 11-13, as it is
most effective before the onset of sexual activity.
In January 2007, the Missouri Foundation for Health bestowed
$11 million in grant funds to provide the HPV vaccine for
30,000 girls and women this year in Missouri. The grant enables
Missouri health care providers to provide the vaccine free
of charge to girls and women ages 9-26 not covered by adequate
insurance or who do not qualify for Missouri’s free
Vaccines For Children (VFC) program. The Missouri Family Health
Council (MFHC) and Missouri Primary Care Association (MPCA)
are responsible for distributing the vaccine to 123 health
centers around the state.
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