This study will assess whether expanding these programs to gender-neutral vaccination GNV with the 9vHPV vaccine is a cost-effective strategy in Belgium. All costs are from the third-party payer perspective, and outcome measures were reported over a year time horizon.
Sensitivity analyses were consistent with the base cases. HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection that can lead to the development of cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancer in women, penile cancer in men, and genital warts, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis RRP , and anal and head and neck cancers in both sexes Schiffman and Castle, ; Forman et al. In both Belgium and worldwide, there has been a trend for increasing HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer incidence, especially among males incidences of 6.
As a result, many countries have implemented cervical cancer screening programs and HPV immunization programs to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases, including the manifestation of genital warts Bruni et al. In , the Belgian Superior Health Council updated its recommendations to propose HPV vaccination for immunocompromized patients, girls and boys aged 9 to 14, and catch-up vaccination for women and men aged 15 to 26 years old Thiry et al.
Vaccination in Belgium is made available through one of three options: reimbursement by the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance, free of charge through regional community vaccination programs, or full price at pharmacies Thiry et al. However, at the regional level, there are variations in the HPV vaccination recommendations and schedules Figure 1. Belgium is divided into three geographical regionsโthe Flanders region population of 6.
Currently, routine HPV immunization programs in Belgium are managed by the community governments in Federation Wallonia-Brussels and Flanders with national reimbursement available only for catch-up HPV vaccination for girls aged 12 to 18 who did not have access to vaccination through a regional vaccination program Thiry et al.
