The government should pay for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to be given to young girls in order to lower the risk of cervical cancer later in life, a white paper released yesterday by a public health interest group said.
A paper on cervical cancer policy released by the Health, Welfare and Environment Foundation called for increased investment in cervical cancer prevention, utilizing a two-point strategy of vaccination combined with stepping up pap smears.
In particular, the authors of the white paper recommended that the Department of Health find funding to provide free inoculations for all girls at the age of 12 or 13 against HPV.
Recent statistical analysis conducted by Academia Sinica, the Taiwan Association of Gyneologic Oncologists and Taipei Medical University demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of the vaccines, said Chou Cheng-yang (
"Taking factors such as relative prevalence of different types of HPV in Taiwan into account, we find that universal inoculation of girls at a young age with an HPV vaccine could cut invasive cervical cancer by 67.9 percent," Chou said.
The researchers calculated the cost of increasing each quality-adjusted life year to be NT$444,000 (US$13,500) on average, making the NT$4,000 vaccine cost-effective as it extends life by 0.13 quality-adjusted years on average.
Despite the fact that Taiwanese women have been getting more pap smears since the procedure was covered by the National Health Insurance in 1995, one quarter of all Taiwanese women have never received one. Cervical cancer is the fifth deadliest cancer for women.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS