(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has announced that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination will be added within a year to the immunisation schedule of Qatar, after completing relevant studies.
This was announced by MoPH's Immunisation Department head Dr Soha al-Bayat yesterday on the sidelines of a workshop on vaccinations. The HPV vaccination will be added after receiving approval from the supreme immunisation committee.
Dr al-Bayat stressed the importance of the HPV vaccination in preventing some types of cancer, the most important of which is cervical cancer and other types of cancers caused by the papillomavirus.
HPV causes cervical cancer and is the fourth most common type of cancer in women, with nearly all cases of cervical cancer (99%) attributed to HPV infection, the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract.
HPV vaccination is currently available in private health institutions and some health institutions of the government health sector.
'The vaccination against hepatitis A was recently deleted from the immunisation schedule and limited to certain cases, as Qatar is not among countries where hepatitis A is prevalent, Dr al-Bayat said.
Meanwhile, Dr Hamad Eid al-Rumaihi, director of Health Protection and Transitional Diseases at the Public Health Department at MoPH, revealed a new electronic system, to monitor transitional diseases and record vaccinations.

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