Nigeria expanding its program for HPV vaccination against cervical cancer
Originally included in the October last year standard immunization campaign, the HPV vaccination—developed to help prevent cervical cancer—was then rolled out to most Nigerian states on Monday. Health professionals participated in a campaign to alert local villages in the southwest Oyo state of the country about the vaccination. “We have heard about cervical cancer before now, and we are aware of the disease it causes. That’s why I asked my daughter to go get vaccinated as a preventive measure,” said Ramotalai Awoniran, following her daughter’s vaccination. Nowadays, the HPV vaccination is offered all throughout the nation. According to the United Nations, cervical cancer ranks as the third most common cancer in Nigeria and the second most often occurring cause of cancer mortality among women aged between 15 and 44 years. In the most recent year for which statistics are available, 2020 saw 12,000 new cervical cancer cases and 8,000 fatalities registered for the nation. Unlike oth...