- Stephanie Ferguson, freelance journalist
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- steph.irene.ferguson{at}gmail.com
Curious to gain knowledge about her own health, a young grandmother attended the launch of the Women’s Health Programme in northern Cameroon at the end of January 2024. Moved by the sessions on cervical cancer prevention and the human papilloma virus (HPV), she corralled her seven grandchildren and returned to Meskine Baptist Hospital. Together, they received the HPV vaccine. Another woman from Chad made the two day journey through dangerous territory to access the free clinic and the vaccine.
Reports of such success are encouraging in countries that sit well below global targets for vaccine uptake as a prevention strategy for cervical cancer. These two stories relate to one programme run by the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, part of its campaign to improve women’s health and promote the benefits of vaccination against HPV.
Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, responsible for more than 300 000 deaths annually. Almost 90% of these preventable deaths occur in low-to-middle income countries.1 Nearly all cases of cervical cancer are attributable to the HPV virus, with a recent study showing no cases of cervical cancer when women were fully vaccinated against HPV at the age of 12 or 13.2
Many high income countries have reached an 80% vaccination rate, but despite the first HPV vaccine becoming available in 2006, low-to-middle income countries generally have rates around …
