Dr Felix Gerald Kwaning Darbbey, the Awutu-Senya District Health Service Director, has appealed to stakeholders in the district to be ambassadors of the upcoming National Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.
He said the upcoming vaccination exercise would protect girls from cervical cancer.
The vaccination campaign will commence from Tuesday, October 7 to Saturday, 11, 2025 to vaccinate girls aged between nine and 14 years.
Dr Darbbey made the appeal at the District Risk Communication and Stakeholders’ meeting at the District Health Directorate at Awutu Beraku, the District Capital.
He disclosed that the infection was the second leading cause of cancer and cancer-related deaths among women in Ghana, often affecting women at the end of their reproductive years (40 – 50 years).
The meeting discussed important issues on the upcoming National HPV vaccination for school going and out of schoolgirls as well as others.
Dr Darbbey informed the gathering that after the campaign, the vaccine will become part of routine immunization, meaning every girl could receive it once she attains nine years.
He urged parents and guardians to ensure their eligible girls got vaccinated to protect them today for a healthier future.
He stated that HPV infections were the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and often passed from one person to another, commonly during sexual activity and other skin-to-skin contact.
According to him, the most sexually active people would contract the virus some time in their lives, and many may never even know it saying HPV infection was most common in people in their teens and early 20s.
Dr Darbbey said: “Even though persistent infection with HPV usually has no signs and symptoms, the changes in the body right from adolescence, may lead to cancer later in life.”
He explained that depending on the type, the HPV could cause many conditions including cancers like cervical, anal, throat, vaginal, and penile cancers adding, the risk factors for HPV infection were early initiation of sexual activity and sex with multiple partners.
He underscored the need for girls to get vaccinated before their first sexual encounter to help protect them from infection with the virus.
Dr Darbbey further noted that the burden of this disease was quite significant and that the vaccine was an effective measure to prevent HPV infection and its related health outcomes, particularly cervical cancer which recorded 3,000 new cases among women globally with 2,000 deaths of the number annually,
The HPV vaccine has been approved by the Food and Drugs Authority, and it is safe and effective.
“While we are sensitising our community numbers on the HPV, we must also do well to talk about breast cancer too as we are in the month of October which is the breast cancer awareness month,” he added.
GNA
