The above news was released by Bulgaria’s Minister of Health, Tanya Andreeva at the sitting of the parliamentary health committee held to review the results achieved by the national program for primary prophylactic of cancer of the cervix for the period 2012-2016.

Answering a question raised by lawmakers whether the Program is backed financially Minister Andreeva specified that the budget of the Program for the last year was BGN 1, 8 M, but the amount of the money used was BGN 1, 3 M. She explained that if higher number of vaccinations would be needed the Ministry of Health is in a position to cover the expenses and will not backtrack on this commitment.

Since the start of the Program in November 2012 up to the end of 2013, 7000 girls at age 12 underwent the 3 doses vaccinations. The full vaccination scheme had covered 24 % of the target group. In addition to this, in the period November 2012 – December 31st, 2013 around 12 000 girls, 12 years old, have had the first injection and around 11 000 girls have had the second shot of the vaccination.

The data shows that in Eastern Europe the incidence of cervical cancer is two times higher than the average in Western Europe. Each day one woman dies from this form of cancer and 3 new cases of the disease are diagnosed.  Before the start of the National Program for Primary Prophylactic of Cervical Cancer just 14 000 girls had been immunized against the disease.