Cost cast cloud over Nigeria’s HPV vaccine plan
Nigeria’s latest target for introducing a life-saving vaccine against cervical cancer has been branded unrealistic by health specialists as cost concerns have yet to be addressed, leaving thousands of Nigerian women at risk.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cervical cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women in Nigeria.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine helps prevent the disease, which caused about 342,000 deaths in 2020—about 90 percent of them in low- and middle-income countries—according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In November 2020, Nigerian health minister Osagie Ehanire, in a keynote speech at a national stakeholders’ forum on the elimination of cervical cancer in Nigeria, said the country would introduce the HPV vaccination into its national immunisation schedule by 2021.
Two years later, the vaccine has yet to be rolled out, leading to skepticism that a new date announced by Faisal Shuaib, executive director of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, would also be missed.
Shuaib, had on 14 July announced a revised date to introduce HPV vaccines for Nigerians aged nine to 14 into the country’s expanded immunization program by the second quarter of 2023.
Read Also:
Read Also: EverCare: Cervical Cancer Can Be Prevented With Vaccines
During an event to mark World Cancer Day, Ehanire said that Nigeria had met the conditions for support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to introduce the HPV vaccine into its national immunization scheme.
The WHO has stated its commitment to support Nigeria’s HPV vaccine rollout, according to Walter Mulombo, WHO country representative to Nigeria. Speaking at the event, he said the WHO would work with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to implement the plan.
“The major drawback is the huge cost of the vaccine,” says Francis Durosinmi-Etti, consultant radiation and clinical oncologist at Lagos University Teaching Hospital’s Cancer Centre.
But he added: “It may also be possible to solicit the assistance of WHO in negotiating specially discounted prices for Nigeria from the manufacturers.”
He suggests that the government could improve access to the vaccine by subsidizing the cost through the National Health Insurance Authority.
Tunji Akintade, medical director of Hamaab Medical Centre, Lagos, and former chairman of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, is concerned that the Nigerian government might delay including HPV vaccines in the immunization program because of the high burden of infectious diseases, which are prioritized in public health policy.
SOURCE: medicalXpress
