From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
As a part of the effort to nip cervical cancer in the bud, the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board (KSPHCB) in collaboration with other critical stakeholders is set to vaccinate 9-14-year-old girls in the State against Human papillomavirus (HPV) which is said to have been implicated in about 95 percent recorded cases of cervical cancer.
Speaking at a one-day public forum to commemorate the 14th African Vaccination Week organised by the Board in collaboration with Save the Children International in Kaduna, Director of Disease Control and Immunization, KSPHCB, Hamza Ibrahim said the idea was to strengthen immunization in the State and Nigeria as a whole through increased awareness.
According to him, the theme for the year which is “Humanly Possible: Saving Lives Through Immunization”, draws attention to the need to raise awareness about the critical importance of full immunization throughout life, and its role in achieving the 2030 target of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In an interview on the sideline of the event, Incidence Manager, KSPHCB, Dr. Abdullahi Musa, explained that the phase II vaccination was still in the planning stage, but, was expected to be rolled out by Monday, May 27 this year.
To him, “we have mapped out public places like schools, religious centers, and others where we can get our target population who are girls between the age of 9-14. The vaccine is free of charge and we have a plan in place to make it available even after the campaign.
“The rationale behind the age bracket was because we believe they have not been exposed to sexual intercourse because this HPV can only be contacted through sexual intercourse with your partner and that is why our target is those who are not sexually active.
“The idea behind the vaccine was to address the issue of cervical cancer in Nigeria because most cases of cervical cancers are caused by infection with HPV.
“In about 95 percent of cervical cancer, HPV is being implicated, and because cervical cancer is the second type of common cancer in Nigeria after breast cancer. The Incidence is on the rise which is why the stakeholders are collaborating to see how we can collectively address this issue.
“So, what we have agreed is to give one shot of Gardasil-4 to take care of four types of HPV which are type 16 and 18 (the two HPV implicated in cervical cancer) and types 6 and 11 (included in the stereotype of HPV) which can protect the receiver for 10 years and beyond”, he clarified.
Also in an interview, Advocacy and Communication Coordinator, The Gate Project, Save the Children, Kaduna State field office, Farouq Abdulkadir noted that his organisation was concerned that no child should die of infectious diseases, hence, the interest in supporting all courses towards achieving that concern.
“One of the key preventive measures of infectious diseases is vaccinations like HPV vaccine which has to do with cervical cancer. As you can see, the target population is girls between the age of 9 to 14 years.
“So we brought stakeholders together to see what they can do collectively in terms of the coverage when the vaccination starts towards achieving SDG 1 which talked about addressing hunger and improving wellbeing.
“Very importantly, we also discussed ways forward based on the experiences which is why most of the participants are implementers. We are going to engage local government chairmen and their wives to let them see why no child should die of infectious diseases”, he added.