HPV vaccination and the fight against cervical cancer in Central Asia
The fight against cervical cancer in Central Asia
27.05.2025
Article published on the rus.azattyq.org website
Central Asian countries are trying to prevent a disease that claims the lives of hundreds of women every year – cervical cancer. It is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), against which an effective vaccine has long been available. On the eve of International Women’s Health Day, which is celebrated annually on 28 May, Azattyq Asia has been finding out more about how the issue of HPV is being addressed in Central Asian countries.
This year, Tajikistan is preparing for its first mass HPV vaccination programme for girls, Mokhtob Bobokhonova, Deputy Director of the Republic’s Centre for Immunoprophylaxis, told Azattyq. This initiative was approved by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation which provided Tajikistan with the perfect opportunity, not only to incorporate the vaccine roll-out within a national immunisation programme for ten year-old girls, but also to launch a “catch-up” version for girls aged 11-14.
Bobokhonova said that the country would use the quadrivalent Gardasil vaccine, which protects against the most dangerous strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. The same vaccine is also being used in other countries in the region. Vaccinations will be administered in polyclinics and schools. Preparations are already underway, with training being organised for doctors and teachers, together with the introduction of a general awareness campaign.
An oncogynaecologist who did not want to be named told Azattyq that the success of Tajikistan’s forthcoming roll-out would depend on how well the public is prepared for it. “The unsuccessful vaccination programme in Kazakhstan in 2013 was instructive in that its failure was not for medical reasons but due to a lack of preparedness. People were scared, badly informed and mistrusted doctors. We cannot allow that to happen here”, he said.
There was a much-publicised case in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, when two schoolgirls fainted after being vaccinated against HPV. That was enough for rumours to spread across the country, which led to the suspension of the mass vaccination programme. Medics claimed that the vaccine was kept at too low a temperature, which had caused a local reaction. Ten years later, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Health managed to track down these girls and found them to be fit and healthy women who both had children.
However, Kazakhstan, where around 600 women die from cervical cancer and 1,900 new cases are recorded every year, has learned from its mistakes. Its HPV vaccination programme was resumed in 2024 and, as of April this year, more than 154,000 schoolgirls had been vaccinated. Adverse reactions such as redness and a mild fever were reported in one in three cases, but there were no severe episodes.
In Kyrgyzstan, where around 350 new cases of the disease are diagnosed every year, an HPV programme for girls has been running since November 2022.
International cooperation has played a crucial role in the programme’s implementation. UNICEF shared the results of its first year’s work, noting that “according to official Ministry of Health data, impressive results have already been achieved. Around 63% of 200,000 girls aged 9-14 have received both recommended doses of the vaccine”. The organisation has provided wide-ranging support, from technical assistance in organising the vaccine roll-out nationally to advocacy and supply.
“These efforts are an important step towards establishing a sustainable vaccination coverage across the country that offers Kyrgyzstan the prospect of completely eliminating cervical cancer as a threat to women’s health in the future”, said UNICEF’s immunisation specialist, Kubanychbek Monolbaev.
When schools in Central Asia first began offering vaccinations against the human papillomavirus, many parents were worried: reliable information was scarce and rumours abounded. But this anxiety has gradually been replaced by informed decision-making. More and more parents are deciding to protect their daughters and to explain to them why being vaccinated is so important. However, in some families, doubts far outweigh the actual evidence.
In Uzbekistan, where more than 1,600 women are diagnosed with the disease every year, HPV vaccinations have been available since 2019. But even after six years, fears and myths remain entrenched despite the facts and the advice of doctors. One of the most persistent of these is that vaccines cause infertility. Such scaremongering spreads from one parenting chat room to another, with many families still refusing to have their daughters vaccinated.
