Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Keywords

Health law, health equity, vaccines, bioethics, cervical cancer vaccine, Human papillomavirus vaccine

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between technological innovation and health inequity. It examines in particular the relationship between the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, the cause of cervical cancer, and inequity in cervical cancer incidence and mortality. In Canada, screening programs have drastically reduced the incidence of cervical cancer, but their benefits have been unequally distributed. Prevention efforts have disproportionately failed women of disadvantaged social groups. Technological innovation alone will not remedy this inequity. The HPV vaccine merely expands the available means for reducing or increasing health inequity depending on its implementation. For this reason, the article looks beyond technological innovation to focus on both the positive and negative health equity effects of the Canadian HPV vaccination strategy.

Comments

From the Selected Works of Joanna N. Erdman

Publication Abbreviation

HLJ

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