03 Sep 2023

Although introduced 15 years ago, African countries are still struggling to incorporate the HPV vaccine into their vaccination programmes. Currently over half of the 47 WHO member states in the African region have introduced vaccination, with the average rate of vaccination among girls in 2021 standing at 21 per cent.

Reflecting on the status quo on the sidelines of the just-ended 73rd Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC73) in Gaborone, Thursday, First Lady Neo Masisi said without urgent interventions that call for the HVP vaccine in routine vaccination programmes, this ultimately undermined efforts to eliminate cervical cancer in Africa.

She acknowledged challenges that contributed to a high incidence of cervical cancer in Africa, among them supply chain disruptions, limited access to radiography services, limited number of oncologists and late screening. Nonetheless, Ms Masisi encouraged women to do regular screening, saying the earlier detected, the better.

For her part, WHO regional director Dr Matshidiso Moeti said in 2021 RC 71 adopted the regional framework for implementation of the global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Africa.

“In order to achieve these goals our most urgent and combined efforts need to be accelerated,” she said.

Representatives of Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi said they have developed guidelines to ensure early screening and initiation of treatment and agreed that treating early diagnosis was much better.

In readjusting guidelines, the stakeholders noted with concern the need to lower the eligible age for cervical cancer vaccination from 14 to nine across the whole continent to save more lives.

They called for the promotion of the single-dose HPV vaccine that had been adopted by only nine member states and said it would enable the vaccination of more girls at less cost.

Meanwhile, Director of Program Management of UNITAID Mr Robert Matiru appealed to stakeholders to be creative and bold in making financing available for cervical cancer.

He said while there was no global fund for cervical cancer, eliminating it could be achieved by using other available funding streams.

Ministers of Health and stakeholders came together to renew their commitment to ending cervical cancer as a public health problem. The event was co-hosted by the Graça Machel Foundation, Gavi, Unitaid, Global Finance Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, governments of Burkina Faso, Comoros, Liberia and Malawi. ENDS