PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Department has announced a vaccination campaign against cervical cancer from November 2 to 14, targeting nearly 2.93 million girls aged 9 to 14 across the province.
The Health Department informed that a total of 2,934,481 girls will be vaccinated in this campaign.
Talking to Peshawar, health officials and experts have underlined the significance of vaccinations and tests to prevent cervical cancer which is still considered a major public health issue in the country.
Dr Rizwan said that more than 5,000 cases of cervical cancer are reported in the country each year while according to WHO consultant Dr Rizwan, the same disease causes the death of about 3,000 people per year in the country.
Dr Muhammad Ayaz informed that cervical cancer can be easily prevented through timely vaccination and testing.
Dr Idris informed that there was an urgent need for preventive measures because cervical cancer was life-threatening and therefore, it should be prevented.
According to UNICEF consultant Kamran Qureshi, 162 countries have included cervical cancer vaccination in their vaccination program. He said that the vaccination of girls will be done in schools and religious institutions.
Qureshi added that religious scholars and teachers had been taken into confidence to facilitate the vaccination drive and address concerns within communities.
According to the Health Department, the formation of committees will be formed to overcome the reluctance of parents to vaccinate their daughters against HPV infections.
Officials maintained that the cooperation of the media will be very important for the success of the campaign and for creating awareness among the people about protection from this kind of cancer.
It was reported by the Health Department that there are vaccination programs for protection against cervical cancer which are also being expanded in several Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Health authorities encouraged the cooperation of parents, teachers and community leaders in this campaign.
