GOSHEN – Orange County Health Department officials met this week with a number of stakeholders at the county arboretum in Montgomery to develop a multifaceted approach to increase the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination rates in the county.
Leadership from a number of organizations developed a coordinated action plan and committed to activities over the next year to help improve the county’s vaccination rates and prevent cancers among youth.
Some 14 million men and women in the US will become infected with HPV each year, which causes a number of cancers including cervical cancer and diseases such as genital warts.
Approximately 50 to 75 percent of new infections occur in 15 to 24-year-olds.
There is no treatment for HPV infection, but vaccination is said to be the best method of prevention and it is most important to protect children before they are at risk of exposure and when the vaccine is most effective by beginning the vaccination series at age 11 or 12, health officials said.
The county initiative was funded by a grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Participating in the two-day event were federal and county health officials, the American Cancer Society, Planned Parenthood, Valley Central School District, private healthcare groups, and Middletown Community Health Center.
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