Nigeria has initiated a groundbreaking vaccination campaign by introducing the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunization system. The objective is to reach 7.7 million girls, marking the most extensive HPV vaccination effort in the African region during a single round. This campaign aims to combat the virus responsible for nearly all cervical cancer cases.<\/p>\n
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Girls aged 9 to 14 years will receive a single dose of the HPV vaccine, known for its high effectiveness in preventing infection with HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for at least 70% of cervical cancers.<\/p>\n
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Cervical cancer is a pressing health concern in Nigeria, ranking as the third most common cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer-related deaths among women aged 15 to 44. In 2020, the country recorded 12,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 8,000 related deaths.<\/p>\n
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Muhammad Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health & Social Welfare, stressed the urgency of this vaccination campaign, saying, “The loss of about 8000 Nigerian women yearly from a disease that is preventable is completely unacceptable.” He further emphasized the vaccine’s role in saving lives and protecting the wellbeing of Nigerians, aligning with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Health Agenda.<\/p>\n
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The mass vaccination campaign, which will run for five days in schools and communities, has commenced in 16 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The vaccine will subsequently be integrated into routine immunization schedules within healthcare facilities. The second phase of vaccination introduction is scheduled to commence in May 2024, covering 21 states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria has initiated a groundbreaking vaccination campaign by introducing the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunization system. The objective is to reach 7.7 million girls, marking the most extensive HPV vaccination effort in the African region during a single round. This campaign aims to combat the virus responsible for nearly all cervical cancer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3729,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3727\/revisions\/3729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}