We Can Prevent Cervical Cancer

Saturday, January 13, 2007

As an African American woman, the daughter of a cervical cancer survivor and president of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, I strongly disagree with columnist Courtland Milloy's uninformed and misguided assertions about a mandatory HPV vaccine program in the District [Metro, Jan. 10].

Cervical cancer kills more than a quarter million women worldwide each year. Most cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine that can inoculate women against the most virulent strains of HPV. Similar to the vaccines for polio, smallpox and measles, the HPV vaccine gives us the opportunity to eradicate cervical cancer in one generation.

Mr. Milloy implied that the program is racist because most of D.C.'s schoolchildren are African American. He should know that women of color -- Hispanic and African American -- are disproportionately affected by this disease. They are 1.5 to 2 times more likely than white women to develop cervical cancer. And they are more likely to die from it. My own mother was stricken by cervical cancer when she was just 32.

I consider it racist for women of color to die in higher rates from a preventable disease. I applaud the D.C. Council's efforts to introduce the country's first mandatory vaccine program, making the District a leader in cervical cancer prevention and women's health.