Unekwu Hadiza A-Arome: Driving Africa’s Commitment to Cervical Cancer Elimination
Unekwu Hadiza A-Arome, Operations Manager at Medicaid Cancer Foundation, shared on LinkedIn:
“Driving Africa’s Commitment to Cervical Cancer Elimination — Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
From November 27th to 29th, 2024, alongside my principal Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu I had the privilege of representing MEDICAID CANCER FOUNDATION at a pivotal consultative meeting organized by the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This gathering brought together stakeholders from across the continent to strengthen Africa’s commitment to eliminating cervical cancer by 2030.
Africa has made significant strides in the fight against cervical cancer:
– 26 countries have introduced the HPV vaccine.
– Nigeria recently vaccinated over 15 million adolescent girls in a single round—the largest HPV vaccination campaign in Africa.
– 16 countries have implemented HPV-based cervical cancer screening at sub-national levels.
But we still face challenges like limited access to vaccines, inequalities in healthcare delivery, and underdeveloped cancer programs in many countries. This meeting was all about tackling these issues head-on, aligning efforts, and rethinking strategies to scale up vaccination, screening, and treatment.
The room was filled with experts and leaders: EPI managers from 30 Member States, technical partners like World Health Organization, UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, AORTIC- Africa, Jhpiego, Roche Africa as well as civil society organizations, academia, and private sector representatives. It was inspiring to witness such a diverse group committed to the same goal.
Over three days, we exchanged lessons, shared best practices, and had honest conversations about the barriers we still need to overcome. The meeting concluded with:
– Renewed commitments from countries to ramp up efforts to eliminate cervical cancer.
– An endorsed roadmap with clear steps to improve HPV vaccination, cervical cancer diagnostics, and treatment.
– Plans to establish regional centers of excellence and a technical working group to guide and support implementation.
This meeting was a powerful reminder that while we’ve made progress, there’s still so much work to do. It was energizing to see African countries coming together with a shared vision of a future where no woman or girl has to face cervical cancer.
We must build on this momentum—because every step we take brings us closer to the dream of a cervical cancer-free Africa by 2030.”
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