Meru County Health department is targeting to vaccinate 97, 000 girls against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) by the end of this month.
This coincides with the Cervical Cancer Awareness month.
According to the county’s Non-Communicable Diseases Coordinator Lilian Karoki, they intend to increase awareness on timely screening and uptake of the lifesaving HPV vaccine.
The World Health Organization, (WHO) recommends the vaccination for girls aged between nine and 14 years before exposure to HPV, which is sexually transmitted.
However, Dr Karoki expressed concern over low uptake of the vaccine, which was introduced in the county in 2019. Only two per cent of the 97,000 girls had been vaccinated by November last year.
“We are currently targeting to vaccinate girls aged 10-14 years across the county. The numbers have been low due to myths and misconceptions about the HPV vaccine. We are working with various stakeholders to reach at least 70 per cent of the target,” Dr Karoki said.
She noted that health workers have also been grappling with the issue of consent since the target beneficiaries are underage.
“We do outreaches in schools where a majority of the girls are but getting consent has been difficult. We now want to work with the Ministry of Education so that parents can give consent through the school management. This way, we will reach many girls,” she said.
Dr Karoki said besides vaccination, the county has trained and equipped more than 370 health workers to effectively screen cervical cancer and offer pre-cancer treatment.
Last year, the county distributed more than 40 thermo ablation machines for treating pre-cancerous lesions after cervical cancer screening.
“It is now possible for women to get screened and treated at level three and level five hospitals across the county. Further tests can be referred to the level five hospital, where there is a histology lab,” Dr Karoki said.
She noted that Meru recorded more than 5,000 new cancer cases by the end of June 2021, with breast and cervical cancers accounting for the biggest number. In Kenya, the International Agency for Research on Cancer shows that there were 5, 236 new cases of cervical cancer in 2020.
About 3,200 deaths caused by cervical cancer were recorded in the same year. According to WHO, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally.
The global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer requires every country to have 90 per cent of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15, and 70 per cent of women screened by the age of 35 and again by 45 years.
