The Birniwa Local Government Council of Jigawa said no fewer than 14,015 girls were vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus, HPV, in the area.
The Information Officer of the council, Fahad Muhammad, made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse on Thursday.
HPV is a viral infection that is passed through skin-to-skin contact; a common sexually transmitted infection which usually shows no symptoms, but can cause six types of cancer,
namely: anal cancer, cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, penile cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer.
The Federal Government launched the HPV vaccine initiative on Oct. 24 in Abuja for girls between the age of nine and 14 years to guard against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause about 70 per cent of cervical cancer.
The vaccination targets over seven million girls, with the girls receiving a single dose of the vaccine.
The Birniwa Local Government Information Officer, therefore, stated that “a total of 14,015 girls aged between nine and 14 years were successfully vaccinated against the
Human Papilloma Virus to prevent them from cervical cancer.”
He quoted the Immunisation Officer of the area, Malam Umar Bello, as commending parents and other relevant stakeholders for the cooperation and support toward the conduct of the exercise.
The information officer added that the area’s Primary Health Care Development Manager, Usman Abdullahi, lauded the support received from the council Chairman, Umar Baffa, that led to smooth conduct of the vaccination.
According to him, Mr Abdullahi also commended the efforts of the managements of primary and junior secondary schools in the area for ensuring that the targeted students in their respective schools received the vaccine.
Earlier, Dr Kabir Ibrahim, the Executive Secretary, Jigawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, had said that 65,000 girls were vaccinated against HPV across the 27 local government areas of the state.
NAN
