Cervical Cancer Vaccination Drive Launched for School Girls

In an important public health News breakthrough, the Ministers of Health and Education of Punjab, Khawaja Imran Nazir and Rana Sikandar Hayat have declared the introduction of the first-ever national cervical cancer prevention program in Pakistan.

In a top level meeting, it was concluded that the program is to start in November and target school-aged girls to be immunized against the disease throughout the province. Through the campaign, about 8 million girls aged 9-14 are expected to be immunized against cervical cancer.

It will not be confined to public schools in the vaccination drive. The private schools and religious seminaries (madrasas) will also be included, where teams of the health department will visit the campuses to administer the doses directly.

In order to provide effective implementation of the program and full coverage, an interdepartmental working group will be created to coordinate the work of health and education departments.

This is a historic initiative by Pakistan in the war against cervical cancer and is likely to lead to a huge decrease in the burden of this disease in the future.