The United Nations Children’s Fund said it is collaborating with adolescent volunteers in Osun to drive a campaign against the low uptake of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Osun State.

The state UNICEF Young Leader on HPV Vaccine and Adolescent Health, Rabiah Busari, said this during a two-day stakeholders’ meeting on Adolescent and Youth-Led Action on HPV Vaccine on Friday in Osogbo.

Ms Busari said the volunteers, with the support of UNICEF, would work in five local government areas in the state where the uptake of the vaccine was low.

She said three volunteers would be selected in each of the local governments and engage in an aggressive HPV vaccine campaign for six months.

According to her, the 2024 data from a multi-age campaign shows there is low uptake of the vaccine in the aforementioned local government areas.

Shre said, “So, we are going back to these communities to educate caregivers and parents about the importance of the vaccine. Our aim is to reach nine-year-old girls who will be vaccinated with the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer in the future. Volunteers are at the heart of the campaign. We need passionate young people who can connect with their communities, speak the local language, and help to counter the myths about the vaccine.
The affected local governments include Ife North, Ife South, Ede North, Ede South, and Osogbo.’’

Ms Busari also said the volunteers would be engaging in advocacy, mobilisation, and sensitisation across the local governments.

According to her, cervical cancer is a major public health concern in Nigeria and remains the second most common cancer affecting women in the country.

“Each year, more than 12,000 women are diagnosed, and sadly, 8,000 die from it,” she said.

One of the volunteers, David Adebowale, said he volunteered to be part of the campaign to ensure that no girl child died from cervical cancer.

Another volunteer, Ikeola Fajuyi, said that she was passionate about ensuring that nine-year-old girls got the vaccine in the affected local governments.

Also, UNICEF Adolescent Development Specialist, Ngozi Izuora-Songu, said available data showed that, largely, the uptake of the vaccine was low in some local areas in the state.

Ms Izuora-Songu also said that the meeting was to sensitise stakeholders in the state to how to upscale the intake of the vaccine.

“We are hoping that by October, when we will be rolling out the big campaign, we will be able to cover about 70 per cent of the population in the state,” she said.

(NAN)