APA Abuja (Nigeria) The World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, Dr David Okello, has called on the Nigerian government to elaborate policy and programmes for the prevention of ravaging cervical cancer, APA learns at the third doze Immunisation of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine pilot project, in Abuja.
Okello said there was need to establish a system for continued surveillance of the disease in the country, adding that there was also a need to monitor all programmes put in place for cancer control.
Okello added that the main risk factor to cervical cancer is HPV, adding that the vaccine was only a preventive measure and advised that efforts should be made to ensure its availability to young girls in the rural areas because the vaccine was expensive.
He lamented that a lot of women do not go for regular medical checkup with less than 0.1% going for cervical cancer screening in their lifetime.
"We take things for granted, many women do not go for regular check up, when they come, they come too late, the older women who cannot take the vaccine can visit a Gynaecologist," Okello said.
Statistics show that cervical cancer accounts for 15% female cancers against about 3.6 percent in developed countries. Cervical cancer kills a woman every hour in Nigeria.
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2011-08-16 11:06:06
