A nationwide vaccination aimed at fighting cervical cancer in young girls will kick off soon, officials of the Expanded Programme on Immunization have said.
The anouncement was made last weekend in Ebolowa, South Region of Cameroon during a two-day workshop that brought together experts in the fight against cancer.
The vaccination falls in line with the introduction of Gardasil, new vaccine against cervical cancer to be used for the first time in the routine Immunization, from September, 2020.
During a workshop held in Ebolowa from February 6-7, experts of the Extended Programme on Immunization said the vaccine prevents the Human Papilloma Virus infection, HPV that is responsible for Cervical Cancer.
« Gardasil is very effective in young girls who are not sexually active and that is why we will start the vaccination exercise with them, » Prof. Mbu Robinson, Director of Family Health at the Ministry of Public Health said.
He added that the first dose of the vaccines will be administered in September while there will be a follow six months later with another dose.
Experts at the workshop however stressed that for the vaccination exercise to be successful, a sensitisation campaign needs to be carried out to persuade parents allow their children to take the vaccine.
To that effect, communication tools have been designed to craft sensitisation messages targeting parents and young girls on the necessity to adhere to the vaccination exercise.
Short programs and spots will be produced and aired on community radios and TV stations so as to reach parents in rural communities, participants at the workshop agreed.
Last week’s workshop comes after the National Committee on the Fight against cancer, CNLCa pledged to take the fight against cancer against in rural communities across the country.
The Permanent Secretary of the CNLCa, Professor Paul Ndom said the committee has restrategised and taken measures to ensure effective treatment of cancer in hospitals across the nation.
JDC TV, Video news 
