By Gom Mirian
The Nigerian Cancer Society has applauded the federal government for its commitment to include the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV) in the national immunisation schedule in 2023 and 2024 to tackle the increasing rate of cervical, anal and oropharyngeal cancers in Nigeria.
The vaccinations are scheduled to be implemented on September 25, 2023, and are intended to target young girls between the ages of nine and fourteen in sixteen states spread across the country’s six geopolitical zones, according to Dr. Adamu Al-Hassan Umar, the society’s president, who made this known in an interview with Africa Health Report (AHR), on Thursday.
According to Umar, HPV is long overdue, pointing out that despite the high mortality rate of cervical cancer in women, most women still find the disease strange and don’t frequently use early screening methods in hospitals. As a result, many patients die before diagnosis of a cancer that is 98 percent preventable.
He said: “The initial deployment will take place in 16 pilots that are deliberately selected across the length and width of this nation, each of which will include two or three states as representation. It will then be followed by the rollout for the other half of Nigeria’s states.
“As I mentioned, this is undoubtedly a wake-up call, and it is the answer to reducing the burden of cancer in Nigeria during the next few years. I’m confident that the statistics will alter significantly as a result.
“To guarantee that we have awareness across the entire nation, we are working round-the-clock with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, which is the implementation agency. In order for people to accept this vaccination, as there are many myths and misconceptions about vaccinations in Nigeria, where vaccine hesitancy is a very important problem and again, we will continue to engage policymakers so that there will be sustained commitment and political will in terms of providing enough quantity of this vaccine that will go round. This is a very welcome development to us and indeed to Nigeria.
“This is a dream come true for those of us who have been pushing for the national rollout because the human papillomavirus vaccine is extremely expensive, even when it is available, and you can imagine the affordability status of people who are struggling to put food on the table. To pay humongous amounts of money ranging from N25,000 to N30,000 per dose of this vaccine is not a priority with over 80% of Nigeria paying for health care out of pocket.”
