Govt working on new cervical cancer vaccine

of women who succumb to the disease, a senior Government official has said.
The Secretary for Health and Child Welfare Dr Gerald Gwinji said his ministry was in the process of crafting a policy that will guide them on how the new vaccine, the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) would be administered.
Dr Gwinji said ideally the vaccine should be given before the first sexual contact, especially to adolescent girls.
“The HPV virus has been identified as the major cause of cervical cancer in Zimbabwe.
“For that reason, we are in the process of adopting a vaccine that will prevent women from cervical cancer.
“For us to adopt it we need to formulate a policy framework that will guide us on how the vaccine would be administered as well as its registration,” said Dr Gwinji.
He said when the vaccine is introduced in the country, even those who are sexually active will be vaccinated.
Government expects that the vaccine would be available locally in the next two years.
The vaccine has since been introduced in many countries around the world including neighbouring South Africa.
Cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer among women the world over.
At the moment the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare is relying on screening, which allows early detection of pre-cancerous cells and diagnosis at early stages.
These methods have however, proven to be less effective as some women are getting diagnosed late, when the cancer will have progressed.
Observers have also noted that massive health education campaigns would need to be carried out around the country to familiarise people with the vaccine, which has since been scientifically proven to reduce possibilities of the disease.