Almost 1.9 million girls, aged nine to 14 years, have so far been vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) nationwide, as part of efforts to reduce the country’s cervical cancer burden.
The figure represents about 80 per cent coverage of the 2.4 million targeted girls, with 90 per cent of those vaccinated reached through schools, while the remaining 10 per cent were identified and vaccinated outside the school system.
The Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Selorm Kutsoati, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The Ghanaian Times yesterday while providing an update on the recently launched multi-age HPV vaccination campaign.
According to her, most regions achieved over 80 per cent coverage of their eligible populations. However, the Greater Accra Region recorded the lowest coverage of 55.7 per cent, mainly due to misinformation and challenges engaging some schools and parent-teacher associations (PTAs) ahead of the campaign.
Dr Kutsoati indicated that health authorities had since identified schools and districts with lower coverage and were working with district health directors and other key stakeholders to vaccinate eligible girls who were missed during the campaign period.
Touching on vaccine safety, she said a total of 505 adverse events following immunisation were reported, describing them as mild and expected.
“The most common adverse events were fever and headache. We did not record any serious adverse events requiring hospitalisation or resulting in death,” she disclosed, adding that the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) worked closely with EPI to monitor and manage all reported cases.
The Programme Manager also assured parents and guardians that systems were in place to promptly detect and manage any adverse reactions, stressing that treatment for such events was provided free of charge.
Dr Kutsoati further noted that Ghana had now transitioned from campaign mode to routine HPV vaccination, making the vaccines available at all public health facilities across the country.
“Any girl aged nine to 14 can walk into a public health facility and receive the HPV vaccine free of charge,” she underlined.
She again assured of vaccine availability, stating that the country currently had more than six months’ stock of the Gardasil 4 vaccine, which is approved for use and being administered to eligible girls.
“There should be no reports of vaccine shortages. Government remains committed to financing vaccines, and we have adequate stock to serve the population,” she said.
Looking ahead, the public health physician specialist said sustained vaccination efforts were expected to significantly reduce cervical cancer rates in Ghana, noting that countries such as Denmark were on course to eliminating the disease largely through vaccination.
“If we maintain this momentum, in a few years we will see a dramatic reduction in cervical cancer incidence in Ghana,” she mentioned.
Dr Kutsoati then appealed to parents to take advantage of the free vaccination to protect their daughters.
“Cervical cancer is a very serious disease that can cause death. Today, we have the tools to protect our girls from infection in the future, and we must take advantage of them. The HPV vaccine is safe, effective and available. You do not need to pay for it, so if your girl has not been vaccinated, take her to receive the vaccine now,” she urged.
Cervical cancer occurs when cells at the opening of the womb become abnormal and grow uncontrollably.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
