Stakeholders want more awareness on HPV infection, cervical cancer

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

Stakeholders in the public health and education sector in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) have called for increased awareness of Human papilloma infection and cervical cancer in all area councils.
The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), causes cervical cancer in the human body.
The stakeholders made the call during a community town hall meeting in collaboration with Direct Consulting and Logistics in partnership with International Vaccine Access Access and National Primary Health Care Development Agency and FCT Primary Health Care Board, in Abuja.
They harped on the need for vaccination of school girls between the ages of 9 to 14.
They argued that the vaccination will protect them from future health challenges.
“We urge both private and public schools, community structures and local health authorities to strengthen collaboration, promote and take effective advocacy to help build the confidence of the public.
They said this will help the public to encourage their school based girl to take the HPV vaccination”.
They called for a sustained efforts to improve HPV vaccine uptake and reach every eligible girl in AMAC.
Speaking at the meeting, Project Lead of Direct Consulting and Logistics,Dr Pius Angioha, said the major objectives of the meeting is to provide a platform for community leaders and stakeholders to discuss challenges affecting the HPV vaccine uptake .
“To address community misconceptions and concerns related to HPV vaccination, mobilized community influencers to actively support and promote HPV vaccination in their communities and also to obtain public commitments from community stakeholders to sustain HPV vaccination efforts “.
He emphasized that the of lack awareness is a big challenge.
“If we cross the awareness challenge, the next barrier is misinformation.
“People hear differently, different news about it and they will tell you,my daughter cannot take HPV vaccination”.
He stressed that, “what we are doing now is to ensure that people get the right information from us.
“The awareness is needed in a large scale, so that in
the next 20 years, we don’t want to see the same challenges with our young girls. We don’t want them come to hospitals with the same problems that we are fighting to treat now.
“ We are doing this today so as to secure the future.”
The Director, Primary Health Care (PHC) Coordinator AMAC , Dr Samuel Adudu said there is need to have better synergy between the healthcare workers and the people at the community.
“We also need to build trust so that going forward, we can counter all challenges”.
He urged the general public to disregard any misconceptions about HPV vaccination.
“ The government has the interest of our school based girls at heart, that is why government has been advocating for HPV vaccines since 2015.”
Also, the FCT YIELD-HPVV Youth Advocate, Akin Temi Oluwabukola and Chinerye Nwaoryu, said despite integration into routine immunization, HPV coverage in AMAC remains low (about 40–50%), driven by low awareness, misinformation, cultural and religious barriers, weak follow-up systems, inconsistent campaigns, vaccine supply issues, and limited cooperation of private schools.
Also, the stakeholders emphasized the need for coordinated, multi-sectoral action, identifying schools, religious and traditional institutions as critical platforms for awareness and delivery.
The meeting concluded with commitments from stakeholders, including strengthened cooperation across sectors, context-based awareness strategies, and regular workshops and outreaches to address misinformation within their spheres of influence, positioning them as HPV vaccination champions.a