Bauchi Govt To Vaccinate 126,000 Girls against HPV
Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency. Photo: Murtala Muhammad
By Murtala Muhammad
Bauchi State government is targeting 126,000 girls of nine to fourteen years old to be administered Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine to guard them against Cervical cancer.
The vaccination exercise is to commence on September, 25 across the twenty local government areas of the state.
The Executive Chairman of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency Dr Rilwanu Mohammed stated this in an interview with journalists in Bauchi on the sidelines of a quarterly Media meeting on Budget Performance.
Dr Rilwanu Mohammed said Bauchi was one of the fifteen states in the country and the FCT scheduled for the first phase of the vaccination exercise.
He explained that the state’s target exceeds the number of doses allocated to it and called for more so as to reach the needed population.
He appealed to parents to bring their girl children for the vaccination exercise protect them against the deadly disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Focal Person HPV Vaccine Rollout in the state, Dr Mustapha Umar Mai Iyali, tasked the Journalists to educate the people on the importance of the Vaccine, explaining that it was the only way to protect young girls from contracting the devastating viral disease.
He emphasized that for the vaccination exercise to be successful the right information must be provided to the people, hence the need for the media be steadfast towards achieving the campaign objective.
The meeting, which was organised by Journalists for Public Health and Development Initiative (J4PD) with support from the USAID funded Integrated Health Program (IHP) drew participants from broadcast, print and online media platforms, as well as Managers of Community Radio Stations in ten Local Councils and representatives of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as the State Ministry for Budget and Economic Planning.
