WHO calls for elaborate plans for cervical cancer immunisation

WHO calls for elaborate plans for cervical cancer immunisation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on the Nigerian government to elaborate its policy and programmes geared toward the prevention of cervical cancer.

The organisation’s country representative in Nigeria, Dr David Okello, made the call in Abuja, the nation’s capital on the occasion of the third dose immunisation of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine pilot project.

Drug availability

Okello said there was a need to establish a system for continued surveillance of the disease in the country as well as monitor all programmes put in place for its control.

The country representative, however, noted that the vaccine was only a preventive measure and suggested that efforts should be made to ensure its availability to young girls in the rural areas by ensuring the drug was mad less expensive.

He further observed that a lot of women failed to go for regular medical checkup and, therefore, urged them to cultivate the habit of visiting a Gynaecologist.

“We take things for granted. Many women do not go for regular checkup; when they come, they come too late,” he said.

“We need a very elaborate plan for the policy and programmes on cervical cancer; we need policy and programmes that will deal with cancer and we need to also establish a system for continued surveillance,” he noted.

According to him, the main risk factor in cervical cancer is HPV.

Appreciation

In his remarks, the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, said it was necessary for girls between the ages of nine and 15 to take the vaccine.

Chukwu recalled that the first and second doses of the vaccine were given in February and March, saying that 186 girls received it.

Miss Chineye Eke, one of the beneficiaries, thanked the government for initiating the immunisation programme, saying her parents would not have been able to afford it, if she had not benefited from the programme.

The health minister administered the vaccine to the beneficiaries who were students aged between ages nine and 15 year.

NAN/Shakira