With India facing the highest mortality rate in cervical cancer in the world, Australian expert Dr Gerard V Wain has suggested a combined strategy of effective screening programme and vaccination to beat the deadly disease and save the coming generation of girls.

Talking to Pharmabiz, Dr Wain who was associated with the national vaccination programme in Australia, said the instances of cervical cancer have come down drastically after the effective screening programmes launched from 1989 and the universal vaccination programme two years ago in his country. Australia was the first country to introduce vaccination among girls against cervical cancer. As an expert in the field, he has been involved in the vaccination programme since its designing and through later stages of campaigning.

"India needs the best model of screening programme and HPV test will be good. But along with that, the country should also work out universal vaccination programme. The awareness among the doctors and others has increased over the years and India can rise upto the task," he said, recalling his interactions with the practitioners during his previous visits and this time.

More than 200 women die of cervical cancer every day and eight women die every minute. About 1.3 lakh cases are reported every year and nearly 75,000 of them die, according to various studies including the report of WHO.

Referring to the Australian experience, he said, the effective screening programme has brought down the mortality rates very much. The deaths due to cervical cancer have come down from 650 before 1990 to 250 in a year. The incidence level is just five to six per one lakh in Australia now, he said, citing high public awareness level boosted by media, experts, NGOs and government agencies in the country. About 85 per cent of the girls between the age of 12 and 18 have received vaccination. The target is to cover the entire women population upto the age of 27. The vaccinations were given to the girls in the high schools at the basic age of 12.

As many as 26 countries have implemented universal vaccination with public funding and it was the right time for India also to go for vaccination, he suggested. It was the lack of an effective screening programme that aggravated the problem in India, he said.