Title : THE HPV vaccination program in Colombia. From a beautiful dream to a nightmare, but hopefully with a bright dawn.
Abstract:
The HPV vaccination program in Colombia, from a beautiful dream to a nightmare, but hopefully with a bright dawn.
Tha HPV vaccination program was launched in 2012 with great success. During the first two years, more than 90% of the girls 9-17 years old were vaccinated with the vaccines provided free of charge by the government that bought it through the Panamerican Health Organization(PAHO). The program was school based, and initially consisted in three doses,but later on was reduced to two doses only.
An unfortunately massive psychogenic event occurred in a small town (Carmen de Bolívar) that was wrongly managed by the media and amplified widely leading to misinformation and distrust in the efficacy and security of the vaccine. As a consequence, the vaccination rates dropped to less than 10% nationwide for the following 4 years. The Colombian league against cancer , with the help of the American Cancer Society started a project aiming to understand why this happened. In just 18 month we were able to increase the vaccination rate in the Province of Arauca from 4 to 83%.
Using the principles of behavior economics we started, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, a campaign throughout the country, and results are encouraging.The vaccination rate is now at 50%,far away from the initial results(90%), but improving. We would like to share the successes and mistakes of this experience.
