Youth advocates, Health, Education and community stakeholders in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have called for intensified awareness campaigns on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer prevention across all area councils.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and a leading cause of cervical cancer; one of the most preventable cancers when vaccination occurs before exposure to the virus. The HPV vaccine does not treat existing infections; it works by protecting individuals who have not yet been exposed, making early vaccination critical.
The call was made during a community town hall meeting organised by Direct Consulting and Logistics (DCL) in partnership with the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), with support from the FCT Primary Health Care Board for the Youth Initiative for Enhancing Long-Term Delivery of HPV Vaccination (YIELD-HPVV) project on Monday, 13th April 2026.
Participants emphasised the importance of vaccinating eligible girls between the ages of 9 and 14; the recommended window in which the vaccine offers the greatest protective benefit, prior to likely exposure to the virus. They highlighted that achieving high vaccination rates in this age group would prevent a significant burden of cervical cancer cases in future decades.
Mrs Lilian Gonji, the Director for Disease Control and Immunization noted that while the HPV vaccine has been available globally since 2006, advocacy efforts to bring it to Nigeria began in 2015, with the vaccine finally introduced into the national routine immunisation schedule in October 2023. She stressed the need for collective action across all sectors to improve uptake and reach every eligible girl in AMAC.
“We urge both private and public schools, community structures and local health authorities to strengthen collaboration, promote effective advocacy, and help build public confidence so that parents and guardians encourage eligible girls in their care to take the HPV vaccine.”
Speaking at the meeting, DCL Representative, Rachael Okoronkwo, said the meeting’s objectives were to provide a platform for community leaders and stakeholders to discuss challenges affecting HPV vaccine uptake, address community misconceptions, and mobilise community influencers to actively support vaccination efforts in their communities.
“A major objective is also to obtain public commitments from community stakeholders to sustain HPV vaccination efforts going forward following its routinization.”
Mrs Abigail Maji, the Health Educator for AMAC identified lack of awareness and misinformation as the two most significant barriers to uptake in the Area Council.
“If we cross the awareness challenge, the next barrier is misinformation. People hear different things and will tell you: ‘My daughter cannot take the HPV vaccination because I heard it causes infertility in the future.’ What we are doing now is to ensure that people get the right information from us. Awareness is needed at scale: in the next 20 years, we do not want to see the same health challenges in our young girls. We do not want them coming to hospitals with problems we are fighting to treat today. We are doing this to secure the future.”
Stakeholders also identified several programmatic and social barriers to HPV vaccine uptake in AMAC, including cultural and religious resistance, weak follow-up systems, inconsistent campaign schedules, inadequate vaccine supply, and limited engagement from private schools.
The Director of Primary Health Care Board for AMAC, Dr Samuel Adudu, stressed the need for stronger synergy between healthcare workers and communities, and called for trust-building as the foundation for countering misinformation.
“The government has the interest of our school-going girls at heart. Nigeria’s national HPV vaccination programme, which began with a pilot phase in select states before being fully integrated into the national routine immunisationschedule in 2023, reflects a sustained government commitment to eliminating cervical cancer as a public health threat.”
The YIELD-HPV Youth Advocates, Akinyemi Oluwabukola and Chinenye Nwaorgu presented a policy and programmatic brief, highlighting specific asks to stakeholders for sustained HPV vaccination efforts targeting both in-school and out-of-school girls in AMAC.
Stakeholders emphasised the need for coordinated, multi-sectoral action, identifying schools, religious institutions, and traditional community structures as critical platforms for both raising awareness and administering the vaccine.
The meeting concluded with stakeholders making concrete commitments, including strengthened cross-sector cooperation, context-sensitive awareness strategies, and regular workshops and community outreaches. Participants pledged to serve as HPV vaccination champions within their spheres of influence.
