HPV: Nasarawa State To Provide Free Cervical Cancer Vaccine For Girls

The Nasarawa State government has recently announced its plans to provide and administer free cervical cancer vaccines to young girls between ages nine and 14 years to protect them from Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).

The Executive Secretary of the Nasarawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NAPHDA), Dr. Mohammed Addis, made the disclosure at a stakeholders meeting, yesterday, in Lafia.

The chairman, who was represented at the occasion by the Programme Manager, State Emergency Routine Immunisation Coordination Centre, Ismaila Oko, explained that Nasarawa was among the 16 states in the country selected for the first phase of the vaccination.

He noted that the vaccine had been procured already and stored in the state for onward distribution to various centres.

Addis commended President Bola Tinubu, Governor Abdullahi Sule and the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, for their roles in ensuring the availability of the vaccine in the pilot states.

Read Also: More Nigerian Women at Risk of Cervical Cancer Over Cost of HPV Vaccine

“Based on the National Demographic Health Survey conducted in 2018, cervical and breast cancers account for about 50 per cent of cancer-related mortality. The survey also revealed that out of 10 women diagnosed with cancer, only two are likely to survive at the end of the day,” he added.

Director, Health Education and Social Mobilisation at NAPHDA, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the stakeholders meeting was aimed at carrying community leaders along.

Community leaders, he added, are supposed to help in enlightening the public on the introduction of the new vaccine to protect women against cancer.

The vaccine has passed clinical examinations and approved by relevant agencies at the international and national levels.

In attendance at the meeting were representatives from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the media, local council coordinators of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Heads of Primary Healthcare Centres from the local councils, among others.