Cervical cancer vaccination drive starts in Dar
What you need to know:
- Under the drive the government targets girls aged 14 and above because they were vulnerable to the virus
Dar es Saam. Vice President, Ms Samia Suluhu, has today, April 10, launched national drive to provide cervical cancer vaccine to all women aged 14
In her speech, Ms Suluhu said the vaccine targets to reduce number of deaths from cervical cancer. She noted that according to 2016/17 statistics from Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) shows that cervical cancer was the leading type of cancer in the country.
"About 32.8 percent of cancer cases reported is cervical cancer, followed by breast cancer which stands at 13 per cent," she said.
She added that the government is determined to vaccinate 616,734 girls around the county this year.
"We are starting in Dar es Salaam but we will proceed to other regions," she said.
She beseeched girls to go for the first and second dose of the vaccination in order to make it work successful.
"The second dose will be provided after six months and one should also get it so as to be protected successful," she said.
For her part, , Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, said the ministry has decided to start with women aged 14 and above in accordance with number of vaccines which they have received this year.
"We have obtain about 600,000 vaccines this year and this is not enough for all women, so we have targeted the vulnerable group first," she said.
She noted next year they will obtain 3.9 million vaccines and then the government will be able to cascade the drive to women aged between nine and 14.
