The Federal Government and other stakeholders have been urged to introduce Human Papillomavirus vaccine in the country’s routine immunization packages.
Dr Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, a Consultant Pediatrician, and Founder of the Medicaid Cancer Foundation, made the call on Sunday in her statement to mark this year’s World Cancer Day. HPV vaccines help in the prevention of cervical cancer.
She said: “The Nigerian government and agencies must urgently make good their promise to introduce HPV Vaccines into our routine immunization packages.
“With the IARC world cancer report finding that the total economic cost of cancer is $1.16trn- now is not the time to lose ground but to move forward and take advantage of the innovations that are emerging as a silver lining to COVID-19 and use the opportunity to improve health infrastructure and systems across the country, as the pandemic passes.”
She called for urgent actions on early stage cancer detection, institutionalized screening, and diagnosis in other to significantly improve cancer patients’ chances of survival.
