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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.