Edo govt begins HPV vaccination... scales up awareness

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BY ANDY EGBON

The Edo State Primary Health Care Development Agency (EDSPHCDA) has met with members of the Social Mobilisation Committee (SMC) and other stakeholders to enlist their support and strategized on creating more awareness for the ongoing HPV campaign for girls of age 9-14years.

The ongoing exercise will last from May 27 - 31, after which eligible girls can continue to access the vaccines in Primary Health Centres and government clinics that offer routine immunization till December 2024.

From January 2025 onward, the HPV vaccines will only be administered to girls that attain the age of nine. 

While advising parents, caregivers and other stakeholders to embrace the immunisation, the Health Educator in the EDSPHCDA, Mrs Irene Uabor said that certain strains of HPV can lead to serious health outcomes, majorly cervical cancer in women. 

She said that HPV which is the most common Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) globally is responsible for about 95 percent of cervical cancer.

"Most HPV infections are asymptomatic; about 90 percent of infections clear within two years, but some infections continue to progress to cervical cancer.

"The progression takes up to 20 years on the average and tends to cause symptoms only after the cancer has reached an advanced stage," she added.

According to her, cervical cancer not only affects the physical health of women, but also takes its toll on families, communities and the society generally.

On the mode of transmission, she said that it is mainly through skin-to-skin contacts, usually through sexual activities, including virginal, anal and oral sex, even with no visible sign of infection or symptom.

According to her, cervical cancer affects women globally, but sadly, Nigeria is no exception, carrying a heavy burden of cancer.

She said that cervical cancer is the 4th most common cancer among women globally, with an estimated 604,000 new cases and *34, 421,000* deaths annually.

Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), she said that Nigeria has an estimated 12,075 new cases of cervical cancer and 7,968 deaths annually.

" In Nigeria, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women, accounting for approximately 16 percent of all female cancers."

The health educator disclosed that Nigeria has concluded plans to introduce single dose HPV vaccine (Gardasil) into Routine Immunisation (RI) schedule this year in Edo and 20 other states this phase, so as to protect against the viral transmission, to sustain the nation's focus on reducing mortality and morbidity due to the high burden of cervical cancer and the weak secondary and tertiary platform to manage and treat the case.

She appealed to all stakeholders, parents, caregivers, health care workers, opinion leaders in the education and religious sectors as well as community heads to ensure the immunisation exercise counts for every child and that no child in the target age bracket is left out

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