Making HPV vaccination campaign successful

Cervical cancer kills many women every year across the world. Caused by human papilloma virus (HPV), this disease is also quite common in Bangladesh. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among our women. About 8,300 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year in the country and around 4,900 people die of this disease. As scary as this disease may sound, preventing it is just as simple. By increasing awareness, expanding the screening activities and emphasising immunisation, this disease can be prevented.

Available since 2006, safe and effective HPV vaccines can prevent about 70 per cent of all cervical cancer cases. An effective campaign of HPV vaccination programme can help Bangladesh prevent this disease. The government has recently launched a nationwide HPV vaccination programme targeting over 10 million girl children. By this, the government aims to vaccinate 95 per cent of all girls in the country. At the first stage, around 200,000 girls aged 10 to 14 years of Dhaka south will reportedly have the opportunity to get HPV vaccines free of cost. The government has also taken initiatives to reach out to the marginalised communities. By 2024, girls in other parts of the country will also be inoculated. We applaud this free vaccination initiative. We wish this initiative to prevent a deadly disease like cervical cancer all the success. We hope all deserving girls will take part in this vaccination programme. For this, it is important to ensure proper management at every level of vaccine collection, storage, transportation and delivery.

Ashikujaman Syed,

Foreign Service Officer,

Anhui Haikang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd,

Anqing, China,

syedashikujaman@yahoo.com