Mathematical assessment of the roles of vaccination and Pap screening on the burden of HPV and related cancers in Korea
by Soyoung Park, Hyunah Lim, and Abba B. Gumel
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Despite the availability of highly effective vaccines, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) remains a major public health challenge in Korea, causing almost all cases of cervical cancer and a significant portion of other non-cervical cancers. We developed a novel sex-structured model to assess the impact of current and proposed strategies for HPV control in Korea. Our analysis revealed that, while the current strategy of vaccinating females (at 88% coverage) combined with Pap screening will fail to eliminate HPV, strategies based on increasing the coverage of the female vaccination or adding the vaccination of boys (at 65% coverage or higher) will eliminate HPV. Our findings offer insights to guide HPV prevention policies in Korea.
Schematic illustration of model-based evaluation of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening strategies in Korea
