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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
A TOTAL of 1,334 school girls aged 10 years from Beitbridge district were last year administered with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine as the government intensifies efforts to reduce cervical cancer related deaths among women. The HPV vaccine targets girls who are not yet sexually active in order to prevent contracting sexually transmitted infection.

Beitbridge District Nursing Officer, Monica Mbawa, told people attending a meeting to review the implementation of the HPV demonstration programme that they had administered the vaccine on 78 percent of the targeted 1,700 girls from 69 primary schools across the district.

She said the vaccination programme was carried out by eight teams between September 21 and 27 last year.

Mbawa said the vaccination programme was being rolled out in two phases with the girls expecting to receive the second doses between March 23 and 27 this year.

She said the programme was met with resistance last year as some parents and religious leaders were reluctant to have their children vaccinated.

“The HPV demonstration was a great success though we met a few challenges like inadequate transport, resistance from some parents and the changing of budgets and implementation dates.

“In some cases parents were altering date of birth for their children since they didn’t want them to be part of the programme” she said.

The nursing officer said there were no challenges with regards to children reacting from the HPV vaccination.

She said plans to carry out the second phase of the vaccination programme were already at an advanced stage.

“We’ve started working on the second phase whose target is to vaccinate more than 1,334 children. We’re awaiting the delivery of the vaccines from our head office and the list of girls who will be initiated on the HPV demonstration programme in March” she said.

Speaking at the same meeting, the acting district administrator, Peter Moyo, said they were working with traditional, community and religious leaders to demystify the introduction of the HPV vaccine.

“We’re also making efforts to ensure that 10-year- old girls that are out of school are also incorporated into the vaccination programme” said Moyo.

The District Medical Officer, Dr Takaitei Kanongara, said there was a need for community leaders to help in disseminating information and sensitising communities with regards to the fight against cervical cancer.

“We’re very hopeful that if we complement each other as stakeholders we’ll be able to successfully implement this programme,” he said.

The life saving vaccine was introduced by the government in Marondera and Beitbridge districts last year and the target was to vaccinate 4,441 girls.

The programme is being implemented simultaneously in the two districts.

It is understood that Marondera and Beitbridge were selected as pilot districts for HPV Demo Project after having successfully implemented the Expanded Immunisation programmes that were rolled out by the government.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI, Alliance) launched the HPV demonstration programme in collaboration with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and has been embraced by many African countries.