Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, UICC President-Elect of 2024-2026, Founder and CEO of the Medicaid Cancer Foundation, shared on LinkedIn:
“The World Health Organization 90-70-90 targets give us a clear pathway to eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem.
Commendably, Nigeria has now vaccinated more than 17 million girls against HPV, and the number continues to grow. To help us further, today at the Decoding HPV – Launch of GARDASIL, MSD/NPHCDA announced a donation of 4.4 million GARDASIL 9 doses targeting the 18-20-year age group.
The burden is significant, and HPV 16, 18 and 45 are among the high-risk cancer-causing strains.
In my remarks, I highlighted the efforts being made by National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, the National Taskforce on Cervical Cancer Elimination (NTF-CCE), the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Nigeria and other partners. The recent launch of screening in Imo State is another important step on the path to elimination.
Women and girls in underserved and hard-to-reach communities remain at risk, and more private sector involvement is needed to reach them with the right information, vaccination, screening, and early treatment to achieve the 2030 elimination goal.
Our training efforts must focus on the frontline healthcare workers who are closest to these communities and can play a major role in prevention and early detection.
Thank you to MSD, the organisers and facilitators for the opportunity to have these important conversations.
No single government or organisation can eliminate cervical cancer alone. We need stronger partnerships, better coordination and sustained collaboration across government, healthcare providers, communities, civil society and the private sector to reach every woman and girl.”
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