As it has become a global custom in the last 22 years, Nigerians joined the rest of the world to mark the 2022 edition of the World Cancer Day on Friday., a website dedicated to activities around cancer care, puts the annual estimated global economic cost of cancer at $1.16 trillion.
There is also Leukaemia, which affects the blood, and those tumours that affect the central nervous system, which could either be brain or spinal cord cancers. Ms Isah explained that although HPV is a causative agent in cervical cancer, not everyone infected with HPV eventually ends up with cancer of the cervix.
Similarly, Mariam Baba, a final year student at the University of Abuja, said although she knows about cancer, she had never heard of cervical cancer or its causes. A Twitter survey carried out by this newspaper on January 26 to ascertain people’s knowledge of the disease shows that less than 40 per cent of the respondents know the main causes of cervical cancer.
Covering 600 million people in 14 high-income countries, cases of HPV from the vaccine’s introduction up till 2019 fell 83 per cent in girls 15 to 19; and 66 per cent in women 20 to 24 years. The low percentage is partly due to low awareness, unavailability of vaccines and the relatively high-cost, findings by PREMIUM TIMES show.Africa’s most populous nation is one of the countries where high cases of cervical cancer are reported. It is the second most common cancer among women in Nigeria.
The gyneacologist explained that women who are not vaccinated at an early age can still get vaccinated during their reproductive years. Ms Moses said; “I was advised to do an HPV test earlier in 2022 and it was negative. After this, I decided to get vaccinated at the Wuse General Hospital but the attendant said the vaccines were not available in the hospital. She advised that I should visit a private health facility to get the vaccines.
Similarly, at the Wuse district hospital, a public facility, a dose of the vaccines goes for N15,500. Although the vaccines were unavailable at the time this reporter visited the facility, the nurse on duty promised to get the vaccine once payment is confirmed.A nurse who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES anonymously said “I can’t remember the last time we had HPV vaccines in this hospital. You know it is not included in the immunisation programme so it is too costly for the hospital to have in store.
OfficialSirEE