By Victoria Milanzi
In a quest to deal with cervical cancer in Malawi government will in January immunize all girls aged nine against human papillomavirus (HPV) to prevent them from cervical cancer.
In Malawi statistics show that 3684 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually and 2314 die from the disease.
According to chief of health services, Charles Mwansambo, Malawi is currently leading in cervical cancer prevalence in the world.
“Government has secured support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to conduct the campaign,” said Mwansambo.
He has assured Malawians that basing on the previous trials, the immunization is safe as it proved ideal to immunize the girls with the vaccine before they engage themselves in sexual activities where they can get HPV.
Malawi medical journal of 2017 described cervical cancer as the most common cancer in women in Malawi.
According to the journal, cervical cancer accounts for over 40 percent of female cancers and it is a major cause of mortality and morbidity.
Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women.
