YMAF Launches HPV Vaccination Awareness Campaign

The Yeye Modupe Alakija Foundation (YMAF), a non-governmental organisation, has recently launched an awareness campaign on HPV vaccination as the Federal Government kickstarts the vaccination of 7.7 million Nigerian girls against cervical cancer with the Human papillomavirus vaccine. YMAF has launched a campaign on HPV vaccination

The Executive Director of the Omobola Olaribigbe disclosed this at the median edition of its Preserving and Activating Destinies Initiative (PADI), to mark the International Day of the Girl Child 2023 Annual Conference with the theme: “EquipHer: Navigating Today with Value, Values and Visibility”.

According to her, the Foundation in collaboration with the Lagos state would be creating awareness of the need for Nigerians to embrace the HPV vaccination and for even older women to also understand that there’s something called cervical cancer and it is a preventable type of cancer.

Olaribigbe said the Foundation which is designed to cater for adolescent girls in underserved communities, said the maiden edition of their conference was to celebrate the girl child and that the HPV vaccination programme falls within the areas the Foundation was established to cover.

Speaking on the need to give women and girls a chance in policy making, she said “The girl child naturally has the skill to multitask and because they are being pushed outside or suppressed, you know, a lot of girl-child begin to question themselves but because of what the United Nation has done in celebration of the girls. And the beautiful thing is that we get bigger every year and they are awareness is coming up. Therefore, every girl child must be celebrated, and for her to be celebrated, she needs to know who she is and become who she is meant to be.”

Read Also: NSSF: HPV Vaccine Is Safe And Effective For Nigerian Girls

She said these are some of the reasons Foundations like us have stepped in to bridge the gap of what exactly is going on in society. So that by the time, we begin to do our own and everybody begins to do their own, schools, churches and mosques begin to let the girl-child know who she is and place her where she is supposed to be placed in society, there will be a change.”

She added that the girl-child is meant to be in policymaking. The girl child is meant to be in the education, and health sectors. Every sector in Nigeria should have a girl-child placed high and for that to happen it will start in our schools. That is the learning place and our homes as well because if we do not begin to tell the girl child who she is, society will keep suppressing her.”

She noted that many women across the world have done remarkable things using COVID as an example, “the women-led nations did better than the male nations and that is the power of what a woman can do.”

Continuing, she explained that the Foundation’s areas of focus were in three core areas of Health which is menstrual hygiene management.

“Part of the health side is menstrual hygiene management. We raise awareness and help the girl child’s hygiene and for period matters. Another area is the HPV vaccination because it’s very important for girls too, you know, it’s not common in this part of the world. Our organization is also raising awareness for these things. We are also empowering the beneficiaries of our foundation, that’s the breadwinners in their foundation, to help them overcome poverty.”

She pleaded with Nigerian girls to know that they are special, and powerful beyond measure, further adding that they should be focused.