Cervical cancer prevention in Indonesia: An updated clinical impact, cost-effectiveness and budget impact analysis

Exploring Indonesian Primary Schoolgirls' Experiences of School-based HPV Vaccination, Knowledge of HPV Risks and Prevention, and Preferences for Cervical Cancer Education

OBJECTIVE

In 2016, Indonesia introduced its Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination demonstration program for girls in grades 5 and 6 of primary school, to reduce cervical cancer (CC) burden in selected provinces and test the viability of nationwide vaccination. This study explored schoolgirls' experience of school-based HPV vaccination, their knowledge of HPV and HPV vaccination, and their preferences for cervical cancer (CC) education.

METHODS

An online survey was conducted with schoolgirls who experienced HPV vaccination between 2019 and 2021 through the demonstration program. Using purposive sampling, respondents were recruited through partnerships with primary public health centres and primary schools in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Data analysis was conducted using Chi-square test, Independent-samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA.

RESULTS

One hundred and forty primary schoolgirls with a mean age of 12.2 years (SD = 0.70) completed the survey. Schools and mothers were identified as key actors in socialising children about important health information and as girls' preferred sources of information. The average summed score for girls' knowledge of HPV, the HPV vaccine, and CC after being vaccinated was 5.07 out of 10 (SD 0.23). Significant differences in the mean knowledge scores among participants with different preferences regarding CC education in school were observed.

CONCLUSION

While schoolgirls' experiences of HPV vaccination were largely positive, their knowledge of critical health information regarding HPV vaccination and CC prevention needs improving. Thus, it is necessary to provide parents, and school-based educators with culturally appropriate strategies and comprehensive evidence-based information about HPV vaccination and CC prevention more effectively to children.

Harnessing the law to advance equitable cancer care in South Africa: exploring the feasibility, desirability and added value of a dedicated national cancer act

Background

The 2017 World Health Assembly resolution on integrated cancer prevention and control provided clear guidance on creating an enabling environment for cancer care. Through a variety of mechanisms, including civil society advocacy, some countries have secured overarching legislation in the form of national cancer acts to promote equitable access and outcomes for cancer patients. In South Africa, cancer incidence is set to double by 2030; and, while existing legislative and policy frameworks do address cancer prevention and control, these are fragmented, poorly implemented and have had limited success.

Methods

This study assessed the feasibility and potential impact of promulgating a dedicated national cancer act in South Africa through exploratory in-depth interviews with 25 purposively selected key informants from various stakeholder groups, including cancer survivors; legal scholars; human rights advocates; health care providers; public health specialists and academicians.

Findings

Following thematic analysis, three key themes were identified: the content of a dedicated national cancer act, the socio-political leveragability of an act and accountability mechanisms that would support such an act.

Conclusion

While most respondents had not considered the possibility of a dedicated national cancer act, they were open to the concept for South Africa. Concerns about widening inequities, duplication, funding and accountability would need to be addressed against the current backdrop of health inequities and limited human rights leveraging for health.

Economic and humanistic burden of HPV-related disease in Indonesia: A qualitative analysis

The burden of human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV-related cancers and genital warts is increasing in developing countries, including Indonesia. The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore the humanistic and economic burden of these HPV-related diseases in patients in Indonesia. In 2021, in-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with patients (N = 18) with HPV-related diseases and healthcare professionals (HCPs; N = 10) specialised in treating these patients. Interviews explored the physical, mental, social, and economic burden of HPV-related diseases. Patients emphasised the psychological and social burden of HPV-related diseases, which negatively impacted their mental state and close relationships. Treatment for HPV-related diseases was also associated with a substantial cost, which health insurance only partially alleviated. HCPs understood the physical negative impact of HPV-related diseases, but some understated patients' social, psychological, and financial burden. This research underscores the substantial economic and humanistic burden of HPV-related diseases that could be prevented by vaccination. In addition, it highlights the need for novel interventions to reduce negative psychosocial consequences of HPV-related diseases in Indonesia. Increased HCP education of the broader humanistic impacts of HPV-related diseases may improve patient support and increase awareness for preventive strategy.

Breast, cervical, and lung cancer: A comparison of real healthcare costs and INA-CBGs rates in the era of national health insurance

Background

In Indonesia, the cost of cancer treatment has been determined by the Indonesian Case Base Groups (INA-CBGs) based on a code called the INA-CBG's rates. However, a fair claim should be based on the severity of the disease and the class of treatment in the hospital, not on the rates of code. In fact, the real cost of therapy for cancer is influenced by several factors including stage, comorbidity, and severity (INA-CBGs coding, type of hospital, hospital class, treatment grade, side effects, and length of stay), so in many cases, there are reported differences between the real costs and the INA-CBGs rates charged to patients.

Objective

This study aims to investigate the difference between real treatment costs and INA-CBG's rates for cases of lung cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer at a cancer center hospital in Indonesia.

Methods

This work uses an observational study, and the data were taken retrospectively from hospital financial data and patient medical records. The data were then analyzed using a one-sample t-test to determine the difference between real costs and INA-CBGs costs.

Results

The results showed that there was no significant difference between real costs and INA-CBG's cost on stage II lung cancer treatment in grade 2 with a sig. value of 0.683; code C-4-13-II in grade 3 with a sig. value of 0.151; and code C-4-13-III in grade 3 with a sig. value of 0.650; where the significance level (t alpha) is more than 0.05. Furthermore, the treatment costs for cervical cancer with codes C-4-13-I and C-4-13-II in grade 1 had sig. values of 0.155 and 0.720 respectively. Lastly, the treatment cost for breast cancer patients with codes C-4-12-II in grade 3 had a sig. value of 0.145 and code C-4-13-II in grade 3 showed a sig. value of 0.091.

Conclusion

Although statistical evaluation showed a significant difference for some cases and not significant for other cases, in real conditions, there is a difference between the INA-CBGs and the real costs that must be evaluated by the government and stakeholders to provide justice for cancer patients.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices among Indonesian urban communities regarding HPV infection, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccination

Background

Few studies explored Indonesian understanding of cervical cancer (CC) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. We aimed to investigate the association between knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) and socio-demographical influences related to HPV, CC, and vaccination among Indonesian urban citizens.

Methods

We conducted an online survey during March 2020-August 2021 using the Snowball sampling technique. The socio-demographic characteristic and KAP responses were collected via Google Forms from 400 respondents in Jakarta. The knowledge and attitudes were divided into HPV and CC (aspect 1) and HPV vaccination (aspect 2). Correlation between KAP scores was performed using Spearman’s test, and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine KAP predictors.

Results

Indonesian urban citizens in Jakarta were found to have poor knowledge in individual aspects of the inquiry but moderate knowledge overall, good attitude in inquiry both in each aspect and overall, and unsatisfying practices. Overall, in the general population, men, and women respectively: 50.8%, 32.4%, and 53.6% had good knowledge; 82.0%, 75.2%, and 84.4% expressed positive attitude; and 30.3%, 15.2%, and 35.6% applied favorable practice regarding questions inquired. Knowledge was weakly correlated towards attitude (ρ = 0.385) but moderately correlated with practice (ρ = 0.485); attitude was moderately correlated with practice (ρ = 0.577), all results: p<0.001. Significant odds ratio (OR) for predictors to good knowledge were female sex (OR = 2.99), higher education (OR = 2.91), and higher mother’s education (OR = 2.15). Factors related to positive attitudes were higher mother’s education (OR = 4.13), younger age (OR = 1.86), and better results in the knowledge inquiries (OR = 2.96). Factors that suggested better practices were female sex (OR = 2.33), being employed (OR = 1.68), excellent knowledge scores (OR = 4.56), and positive attitudes expressions (OR = 8.05). Having done one vaccination dose and intention to receive vaccines were significantly influenced by good KAP.

Conclusions

KAP had inter-association to successful CC and HPV prevention programs, and socio-demographical characteristics are critical to influencing better KAP.

Parental Acceptance of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination in Districts with High Prevalence of Cervical Cancer in West Java, Indonesia

BACKGROUND

Cervical cancer is the second-highest cause of death in women with cancer, which is mostly caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, specifically HPV 16 and 18. Next to Pap smear and visual inspection with acetic acid, HPV vaccination is highly recommended to support preventive measures.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine parental acceptance of HPV vaccination in districts with high prevalence of cervical cancer and different levels of household income in West Java, Indonesia by taking several factors into account.

METHODS

A questionnaire was delivered to 286 parents who met the major inclusion criteria of having daughters at 5th or 6th grade of elementary schools in three selected districts: Bandung, Purwakarta and Karawang. In particular, logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate the correlation of acceptance towards HPV vaccination with sociodemographic factors.

RESULTS

Respondents in Bandung, Purwakarta and Karawang were willing to pay for HPV vaccine at a price range of US$ 1.38-20.69, US$ 0.07-34.48, and US$ 1.38-6.90, respectively. In addition, respondents' spouse was the key person influencing their decision to vaccinate their children.

CONCLUSION

Education level and health beliefs toward cervical cancer have significant correlation (p-value <0.05) with acceptance towards HPV vaccination.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of the nonavalent human papillomavirus vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer in Singapore

BACKGROUND

The nonavalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been shown to extend protection against oncogenic HPV types 31/33/45/52/58 (HPV-OV) not covered by the bivalent and quadrivalent HPV vaccines. Besides its clinical benefit, evidence on the economic value of the nonavalent vaccine is required to inform local vaccination strategies and funding decisions. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of replacing the bivalent vaccine with the nonavalent vaccine in the national school-based HPV vaccination programme in Singapore.

METHODS

An existing age-structured dynamic transmission model coupled with stochastic individual-based simulations was adapted to project the health and economic impact of vaccinating 13-year-old girls with two doses of the nonavalent or bivalent HPV vaccines in Singapore. Direct costs (in Singapore dollars, S$) were obtained from public healthcare institutions in Singapore, while health state utilities were sourced from the literature. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were estimated over a lifetime horizon, from a healthcare system perspective. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed to obtain the ICERs and corresponding variations across variable uncertainty. Particularly, this study tested the scenarios of lifelong and 20-year vaccine-induced protection, assumed 96.0% and 22.3% cross-protection against HPV-OV by nonavalent and bivalent vaccines respectively, and fixed vaccine prices per dose at S$188 for nonavalent and S$61.50 for bivalent vaccines.

RESULTS

Compared with the bivalent vaccine, the use of the nonavalent vaccine was associated with an ICER of S$61,629 per quality-adjusted life year gained in the base case. The result was robust across a range of plausible input values, and to assumptions regarding the duration of vaccine protection.

CONCLUSION

Given the high ICER, the nonavalent vaccine is unlikely to represent a cost-effective option compared with the bivalent vaccine for school-based HPV vaccination of 13-year old female students in Singapore. Substantial price reductions would be required to justify its inclusion in the school-based programme in the future.

Multi-criteria decision analysis to prioritize the introduction of new vaccines in Indonesia by using the framework of the strategic multi-attribute ranking tool for vaccines (SMART vaccines)

Background: Decision-making processes regarding new vaccine prioritizations are complex. The objective of this study was to prioritize the introduction of new vaccines in Indonesia.Methods: A multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was applied in this study. A preliminary data collection form was developed to collect country-specific data in relation to 30 pre-defined attributes. In particular, an open-ended questionnaire was conducted among targeted respondents from global level, national level and vaccine manufacturers, which were involved in the financial flows of new vaccine procurement in Indonesia. For setting new vaccines priorities, targeted respondents were asked to assign weight on 10 selected criteria.Results: Top 3 attributes with the highest weight from respondents were premature deaths averted per year, incident cases prevented per year, and cost-effectiveness. Applying criteria scores and weight assessment, the result showed that PCV, rotavirus, HPV, and JE would be on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rank for setting new vaccine priority in Indonesia. There was a significant difference score (p value <0.05) between all these vaccines.Conclusions: PCV, rotavirus and HPV vaccines should be more prioritized than JE vaccine. This ranking is in line with the WHO's priority list, which potentially illustrates the validity and usefulness of our MCDA-approach.