The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) said it would extend the HPV vaccine to 16 million Nigerian girls by 2025.
GAVI’s senior country manager, Jessica Crawford, disclosed this during the launch of the phase two of the programme in Ilorin, Kwara State.
“We believe that no woman should have to face a cervical cancer diagnosis, when we have a tool that could prevent it. That’s why we at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, alongside our partners, have set an ambitious goal: to reach 86 million adolescent girls worldwide by 2025 with the HPV vaccine. In Nigeria alone, we can reach over 16 million adolescent girls in that time,” Crawford said.
Crawford, who was represented by Hajia Binta Ismail, described the launching of the vaccine as a significant step towards protecting a generation of women from cervical cancer.
While describing the HPV vaccine as the most impactful vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, she lamented that, “in our region and on our continent, it remains inaccessible for far too many, putting the lives of our daughters and sisters at risk and impacting our families.”
She commended the federal government for the successful rollout of HPV vaccine across 15 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in phase one, which reached over five million girls.
She noted that Nigeria is on a new path to protect millions of girls from the devastation that cervical cancer brings.