adminis expected to see a marked reduction of women who develop cervical cancer. Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Douglas Mombeshora said: “The Ministry of Finance allocated US$500 000 for the expansion of the storage facilities at Parirenyatwa Hospital in the last two national budgets, but to date, no funds have been availed.
We intend to introduce the vaccine in phases,” he said.
Zimbabwe has successfully applied to the GAVI Alliance for assistance to introduce the HPV vaccine but storage facilities at Parirenyatwa Hospital are not big enough to store the amount of vaccines that would be coming in as one person requires three doses.
The HPV vaccine prevents infection with certain species of human papilloma virus associated with the development of cervical cancer and genital warts. The cost of the vaccine is a fraction of the cost of cancer treatment.
In Zimbabwe, cervical cancer is the second cause of death among cancers after kaposi sarcoma, despite the fact that it is preventable and curable.
Online Reporter