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A MEMORIAL
SUPPORTING DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE
DELIVERY OF RECOMMENDED PAPANICOLAOU AND HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS
TESTING, TO MAINTAIN SURVEILLANCE OF CERVICAL PRECANCERS AND
TO FORM A HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS-PAPANICOLAOU ADVISORY PANEL.
WHEREAS, cervical cancer represents approximately three
percent of cancers in women and two percent of all cancer
deaths in New Mexico, and nearly four hundred women in New
Mexico are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and
another twenty-six die from the disease; and
WHEREAS, cervical cancer is among the cancers that are
most amenable to prevention or secondary intervention through
early detection and screening; and
WHEREAS, two-thirds of the New Mexico women newly
diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer are under the age of
fifty-five and have families; and
WHEREAS, successful and costly cervical cancer screening
and papanicolaou programs coordinated through longstanding
statewide efforts of the department of health and the Indian
health service have reduced the incidence of invasive cervical
cancer in New Mexico to fewer than one hundred new cases
diagnosed each year; and
WHEREAS, the majority of women who are diagnosed with
invasive cervical cancer have a history of not being screened
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through a papanicolaou test within the past five years; and
WHEREAS, extending cervical cancer screening programs to
women living in New Mexico has resulted in a recent
convergence of the incidence rates for cervical cancer among
the three main ethnic groups living in New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, mortality rates remain higher among Hispanic
and Native American women when compared to non-Hispanic white
women, presumably due to a number of complex and sometimes
interrelated disparities, including failure to screen; limited
resources; health care access issues, especially in rural
areas; immigrant status; and other cultural and social
barriers; and
WHEREAS, twenty distinct high-risk or carcinogenic types
of genital human papillomaviruses primarily transmitted by
skin-to-skin contact during sexual activity are the cause of
virtually all cervical precancers and cancers; and
WHEREAS, genital human papillomavirus infections are
extremely common, with approximately forty percent of women
between the ages of eighteen and forty testing positive for
human papillomavirus; and
WHEREAS, in certain women, persistent human
papillomavirus infections with high-risk or carcinogenic human
papillomavirus types are at increased risk for cervical
precancer and cancer; and
WHEREAS, specific testing for high-risk human
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papillomaviruses has been recommended to improve the early
detection of cervical precancers and cancers:
A. in women diagnosed with mild or equivocal
papanicolaou test abnormalities; and
B. in addition to routine papanicolaou tests in
women thirty years of age and older; and
WHEREAS, extremely effective prophylactic human
papillomavirus vaccines have recently become available but are
expensive, costing approximately three hundred sixty dollars
($360) per three-dose series; and
WHEREAS, many human papillomavirus types not covered by
these vaccines will still cause cervical cancer and, because
the vaccines demonstrate no significant therapeutic effect in
women already infected with human papillomavirus, it is
imperative to remain vigilant in continuing and improving
cervical cancer screening programs; and
WHEREAS, young girls who are sexually naive and have not
been previously exposed to human papilloma viruses would gain
the greatest benefit from human papilloma virus vaccination;
and
WHEREAS, improvements in cervical cancer prevention,
including primary vaccines and secondary human papillomavirus
testing, have great potential to reduce the incidence of
cervical cancer, and any relaxation in papanicolaou test
screening due to a false sense of protection in vaccinated
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females can result in an increase in the incidence of cervical
cancer rather than the hoped-for reductions; and
WHEREAS, the same disparities affecting papanicolaou
screening programs may determine whether young females are
vaccinated with a three-dose human papillomavirus vaccine,
which requires multiple clinic visits to complete the human
papillomavirus vaccine series; and
WHEREAS, New Mexico maintains cervical precancer and
cancer screening surveillance and a statewide immunization
system;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it remain
committed to reducing the incidence of cervical precancers and
cancers in New Mexico by supporting the department of health's
efforts directed to improve statewide delivery of papanicolaou
and human papillomavirus testing and the delivery of human
papilloma virus vaccines to girls between the ages of nine and
fourteen; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico house of
representatives support the department of health's ongoing
efforts to maintain surveillance of cervical precancers and
that it encourage a collaboration of this program with the New
Mexico immunization program's statewide immunization system;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives
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support the formation of a human papilloma virus-papanicolaou
advisory panel composed of experts in human papilloma virus
and cervical cancer screening, immunization and adolescent and
school-based health and representatives of the New Mexico
immunization program, the New Mexico breast and cervical
cancer early detection program, the public health division of
the department of health, statewide school-based health
programs and key health care advocacy groups within the state;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico house of
representatives support a formal collaboration of the New
Mexico health policy commission with the human papillomavirus-
papanicolaou advisory panel; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico house of
representatives support the creation of a research agenda by
the human papillomavirus-papanicolaou advisory panel and the
New Mexico health policy commission to study and identify
cervical cancer disparities and cost-effective delivery of
primary and secondary cervical cancer interventions that will
protect and improve the health of New Mexico women; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
transmitted to the department of health, the New Mexico health
policy commission, the interim legislative health and human
services committee and the governor.