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Rumbidzai Ngwenya Features Writer
Fourteen-year-old Sharon Moyo and her siblings Tendai (11) and Chipo (9) from rural Chivhu missed out on the just ended Human Pappiloma Virus (HPV) vaccination that was carried out across Zimbabwe. Their mother denied them the opportunity.
Upon realising that her three kids were listed for the vaccination, Mrs Moyo visited the school and ordered that they be exempted.
“I am no longer fooled by Zimbabwean politics where towards elections such programmes are carried out,” said the girls’ mother.
“My children do not need to be vaccinated against any cervical cancer related virus, they are still young to acquire it.”
Like many, she also holds a misconception that such vaccines will render her daughters barren.
Not only Sharon and her siblings missed the vaccines, but many others.
According to WHO, the risk of getting cervical cancer far outweighs common adverse vaccine side-effects such as headache and dizziness.
Infertility, difficulty in breathing and restriction of the airways are rare and experienced in less than one in 10 000 people, who have received the HPV vaccine.
Experts recommend that the HPV vaccine be administered and promoted to prevent HPV-related diseases and deaths.
In a report by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, 86 percent of the targeted girls were vaccinated. But as much as it is a huge number, the remaining 14 percent, which is about 130 000, are still a large number to worry about.
Apart from lack of information, parental beliefs and religion play a major role in who was vaccinated and not, and this saw many pupils missing out.
Despite the ministry’s efforts to educate people on the importance of the vaccination, the message seemed somehow not to have had an impact on parents like Mrs Moyo and some children suffered the consequences.
Mainstream and social media were used to spread the message, so was advocacy by the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa.
However, UNICEF believes that if local languages had been used to communicate information about HPV, greater results would have been achieved, and cases such as Sharon’s and her siblings avoided.
Speaking during an HPV feedback meeting held in Harare recently, Communication for Development (C4D) specialist at UNICEF Zimbabwe, Titus Motsaebi highlighted language barrier as one of the challenges the programme faced among others.
“The programme faced many challenges, including the fact that there was weak or no formal media monitoring. Some children were sent back home for non-payment of school fees and so on.
“But above that, language played a significant role as more use of local languages would have made great impact. We didn’t even have a local language term for HPV,” he said.
Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control, Dr Portia Manangazira outlined the importance of mutual understanding between the Ministry and parents in the fight to eliminate cervical cancer.
She said this would ensure that programmes against the prevention of diseases were 100 percent successful.
“Although the programme was a success, there were girls who missed the opportunity for a lot of reasons, but we are making sure that next time every child is vaccinated,” said Dr Managazira.
“Changing behaviour and beliefs is a long term process, but we are already working on it so that we change the perception of parents and guardians.
“Eliminating cervical cancer should be everyone’s responsibility.”
The Ministry’s community nursing deputy director Regina Gerede highlighted the need for Government to come up with instruments and strategies that would reach out to all parents regardless of religion. “The issue of religion remains a major hindrance to access health for all, hence, the need for the Government to use instruments such as the Constitution to ensure that children’s rights are protected.
“As much as there is improvement on apostolic churches in terms of seeking medical help, there is still more that should be done,” she said.
Of the 888 826 estimated number of girls between the age of nine and 14 years that were targeted, 759 454 were vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
The vaccines were administered through school-based programmes, community based strategies and at health centres in a bid to reach all eligible girls.
In Zimbabwe, the incidence of cervical cancer is reported to be 35 per 100 000 women with 2 270 new cases reported and 1 541 associated deaths each year.
HPV is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract and causes cervical cancer in women.
It is believed that 99 percent of cervical cancers are associated with the HPV, which is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse.
As a way of achieving the greatest impact, the vaccine was given before the girls were exposed to the virus.
The vaccine, which was introduced for the first time in the Zimbabwe Expanded Programme of Immunisation in September 2014, was a step in nipping cancer in the bud.
The just ended programme offered the first dose, and the second dose, which should be given six to 15 months from the first, will be administered by the third or fourth week of May 2019 to allow pupils to be well settled in schools to avoid inconveniences.
From 2019 the Ministry is looking forward to be administering the vaccines annually and reaching out to more than 2 000 girls per year.
Although parents have the right to control what their children should do, it becomes problematic when the right to healthcare is violated. Government as the secondary guardian should look into such violations whenever programmes like HPV vaccination are carried out.
Online Reporter