International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is not presently cost-effective in the Netherlands, a new study has indicated.

According to research published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the high price of the vaccine and relatively low number of cases mean that "even under favourable assumptions" - including lifelong protection against 70 per cent of cervical cancers – adding HPV vaccines to the present Dutch cervical cancer screening programme would not prove good value for money.

Inge de Kok and colleagues at the Department of Public Health at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, estimated the costs and effects of adding HPV vaccination to the current program using a microsimulation screening analysis model.

They stated: "To become cost-effective, the vaccine price would have to be decreased considerably, depending on the effectiveness of the vaccine."

Last month, a spokesperson for Marie Stopes International claimed women should not be afraid to visit a gynaecologist for a cervical cancer test.

She suggested that some women who could benefit from a Pap smear avoid taking one because they believe it is "not the most dignified test".