News
2023: an important year for the Taskforce HPV-kankervrij.nl
In 2009 the first girls born in 1993 were vaccinated against HPV. This year these women are turning 30 and will get screened for the first time. 2023 is, therefore, an important year for the Taskforce HPV-kankervrij.nl to see the effect of the HPV vaccination on the prevalence of cervical cancer.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) can cause 6 types of cancer and genital warts, leading to around 1700 cancer diagnoses in 2021 in the Netherlands alone. To prevent these HPV-related diseases, girls and boys can be vaccinated against HPV and at the age of 30 women can be screened for cervical cancer. The goal of the Taskforce HPV-kankervrij.nl is to increase vaccination and screening rates and make HPV-related cancers rare diseases.
The Taskforce HPV-kankervrij.nl was founded in 2019 by Heleen van Beekhuizen and Folkert van Kemenade due to the low vaccination and screening rates. In 2022, Lygature joined the Taskforce as a partner and became responsible for the communication strategy and its execution. In the first 6 months Lygature made some important first steps for the Taskforce: the website was launched, the corporate identity was created, a slide-deck with information on HPV was made, social media accounts were created, news articles on the website and a newsletter were written, and in November 2022 the first meeting of the Taskforce took place.
The Taskforce focuses on communication on HPV towards health care professionals. On international HPV-Awareness Day, the Taskforce launched a Whatsapp Community and knowledge cards for health care professionals. The Whatsapp Community creates an accessible platform where health care professionals can ask questions, share information and have discussions. The knowledge cards were published on the website of the Taskforce and contain information on HPV and related cancers. These freely available cards can be used to inform health care professionals and as a tool in conversation with patients/clients.
Currently, a folding cube is being developed and printed. Just like the knowledge cards, the cube contains important information regarding HPV, the vaccine, and screening. The cube is a little puzzle and thus a nice gadget for GPs to use themselves and as a helpful tool in conversation with patients. We expect this cube to be distributed this year amongst 1000 GPs in the Netherlands. In the past year, a lot of work was performed by Lygature for the Taskforce HPV-kankervrij.nl in order to increase vaccination and screening rates.