Lilongwe – The Malawi government will this month administer the second mass cervical cancer vaccine (Human Papilloma Virus or HPV) to girls aged nine and 10, as a means of protecting them from cervical cancer.
The Malawi government made the announcement in a statement signed by Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Population Services, Dan Namalika.
The vaccine will be administered from Jan.20 to Jan.24 in line with recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“The vaccine is given to nine-year-old girls in two doses: the first dose is given to girls at the age of nine and second one is given 12 months after the first dose,” reads the statement.
The ministry has called upon all parents, guardians and teachers to ensure that all young girls, who are supposed to receive the vaccination, should receive it to protect them from cervical cancer.
According to the ministry, the first round of vaccine in 2019, which was supported by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, was successful.
Currently Malawi has one of the highest rate of cervical cancer in the world.
NAN reports that the Ministry of Health in 2019, vaccinated over 230,000 girls with the HPV vaccine since the campaign was rolled out in January.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Joshua Malango told Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Thursday that currently there is an overwhelming demand for the vaccine among the girls.
“These figures are according to preliminary results, we will have a final report and figure by the end of this month.
“A lot of parents are allowing girls to access vaccines in the country and the demand is overwhelmingly high,” he said.
Malango cited inadequate vaccines to cover all the girls as one of the challenges the HPV vaccine campaign is facing.
Malawi government, in partnership with WHO and United Nations Children Fund, launched the national HPV vaccine campaign targeting over 240,000 girls aged nine across the country to protect them against cervical cancer.
(Xinhua/NAN)