In Argentina, vaccines are a social good

The same story plays out in a small clinic in a remote area of Argentina and in a hospital in downtown Buenos Aires: a woman waits to have her 11-year-old daughter vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

In Argentina, whether or not a child gets vaccinated has nothing to do with socio-economic status. Health centres right across the country provide all children free and compulsory vaccines against 15 diseases. For girls there is a 16th – the WHO-recommended vaccine against HPV, which can cause cervical cancer.

“In Argentina, vaccines are a social good that makes us all equal: having an equitable programme makes it possible for all of us to have access to prevention,” says the Health Minister Juan Manzur.

Argentina Ministry of Health

Argentina is one of the first countries in the Region of the Americas to provide the HPV vaccine. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), WHO’s Regional Office for the Americas, runs a Revolving Fund for the Procurement of Vaccines, syringes, and related supplies for participating Member States. It ensures that immunization programmes have a continuous supply of high-quality products for a low price. Argentina acquires the HPV vaccines through the PAHO Revolving Fund.

Three doses for the future

Among the newest vaccines to be offered in Argentina are the three doses against HPV, which are given to all girls at 11 years of age in order to prevent cervical cancer later in life.

"In Argentina, vaccines are a social good that makes us all equal: having an equitable programme makes it possible for all of us to have access to prevention."

Different kinds of prevention

In addition to the HPV immunization strategy, Argentina is also promoting a ground-breaking HPV self-testing project in the northern province of Jujuy. The Self-Sampling Modality Evaluation Project was implemented in 2011 with the collaboration of the provincial health ministry and WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

“The objective of this research project is to evaluate the efficiency of the self-test, which could be a fundamental tool in overcoming some of the barriers women face in being able to access HPV testing. This is linked to geographical inaccessibility of the health centres, the lack of human resources to implement the measures, and women’s shyness in coming forward for this test,” says Silvina Arrossi, the scientific coordinator of the national cervical cancer prevention programme.