In women’s health news, the FDA has approved a new vaccine intended to prevent cervical cancer, precancerous genital changes, and genital warts caused by specific types of human papillomavirus (HPV). 

And in even better health news, the international non-profit health group PATH is running 5-year pilot programs to get these vaccines to poor women in in India, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam.   Three cheers to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for funding the initiative.  A quarter of a million women die of cervical cancer each year, most of them in the world’s poorest countries where local health systems do not support routine Pap smears.

Have you seen the awareness campaign TV commercials about HPV?  Actors talk to the camera about how they wish they had known more about HPV and they would have told their daughter, sister, mother.  Scary, scary stuff people.  And there’s certainly speculation that the commercials are strategically creating demand for the new vaccines. 

HPV is a group of 100 plus different viruses that are sexually transmitted, two of which cause 70% of all cases of cervical cancer.  Get your pap smears and let’s hope these are safe, effective vaccines!