As a result, the introduction of this vaccine targeting an infection (HPV) transmitted through sex has been highly problematic in a number of settings – as we explore below. Nonetheless, there is an increasing demand for information about the vaccine

and accessible and affordable http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Gefitinib.html services to deliver it. In the following sections we review the introduction of HPV vaccines in a variety of settings in order to examine what lessons can be learnt for future vaccines targeting STIs. We focus predominantly on the battle of ideas around HPV vaccines, but refer to entrenched interests and stakeholder institutions where these have influenced policy. Human rights laws and principles apply directly in the provision of HPV vaccines. The right to the highest attainable standard of health requires governments to progressively take steps necessary to make services accessible and available, without discrimination, to the maximum of their available resources, and to reduce health inequities [24]. Given the problems with alternative

STI prevention measures, such as screening programmes [25], the benefits of vaccine programmes (in conjunction with other public health approaches) become more clear: vaccines may place considerably fewer demands on health systems than other interventions, Screening Library cost by utilizing established infrastructure, logistics networks and information systems of immunization service delivery [22]. Moreover, studies indicate that HPV vaccines, if made available and accessible to adolescent girls in developing countries, would help prevent a large proportion of cases of cervical cancer in the next decade [26] – and may reduce the burden of other cancers and genital warts too. Thus, the benefits of HPV vaccines are clear from

a human rights perspective, and similar arguments about efficacy and cost effectiveness would need to be made for future STI vaccines. However, vaccines specifically targeted at young adolescents (as these vaccines are and are likely to be in of the future), raise particular issues under human rights law. Introduction of the HPV vaccine or any STI vaccine to young people faces a variety of challenges. The first challenge is ensuring that vaccine delivery is not a stand-alone effort, but supported by engaging young people with comprehensive and appropriate information, including on sexuality [27] and [28]. Cultural and religious norms and taboos in many settings, however, prohibit the exchange of information about sexuality, particularly for unmarried adolescents and young people – often with the effect of limiting care-seeking in this age group [29].