Findings by PUNCH HealthWise have revealed that major government-owned hospitals in Lagos State do not have the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine that protects women and girls against cervical cancer. Some mothers shared their frustrations about the inability to get their daughters vaccinated as experts blame the government for the scarcity. ANGELA ONWUZOO reports
Mrs. Joseph told our correspondent that one of her friends died of cervical cancer and therefore, added that she would do everything within her reach to protect her daughter from the killer disease since it could be prevented with the HPV vaccine. Experts say the HPV vaccine is 97 per cent effective in preventing cervical cancer and cell changes that could lead to cancer but regretted that the vaccine was not available to women in the country.
“When we got there, the nurses that we met at their immunisation ward told us that they don’t have the HPV vaccine. “A poor man cannot access healthcare out of pocket in a big private hospital in Lagos. You too know what I am talking about. Not deterred by her last experience, Mrs. Joseph told our correspondent that she still took her daughter to LASUTH on January 19, 2023, to get the vaccine but was told the vaccine was not yet available.
“But I never knew that getting the HPV vaccine even with your own money was a big challenge in Lagos. I will keep trying. The government should please help us and save our girls from cervical cancer. They should make it available and free so that ordinary Nigerians will have unhindered access to it.”that the masses in Nigeria still do not have access to the HPV vaccine.
Nzelu who is the Executive Secretary, GivingTide international, says though cervical cancer is on the increase globally, the situation in Nigeria has assumed a worrisome dimension. Our correspondent went around some hospitals in the state and findings revealed that while some mothers are eager to have their adolescent girls vaccinated against cervical cancer, government hospitals did not have the HPV vaccine at all.
Asked when the vaccine will likely be available, she said, “I don’t know. It is our suppliers that will answer that question,” the nurse who does not want her name mentioned in the report said.At the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute- Metta, the story was the same when our correspondent visited the tertiary health facility.
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