Cervical Cancer: Encourage Teenage Girls To Get Vaccine, Pharmacists Urge Parents

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has advised parents to encourage their teenage female children to get vaccines aimed at preventing cervical cancer.

The ACPN Chairman in Oyo State, Pharmacist Adebayo Gbadamosi, stated this on Monday during the flag-off of pharmacy-based immunisation delivery, organised by Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board in collaboration with ACPN and Population Services International Nigeria.

Gbadamosi said the vaccine is crucial in preventing cervical cancer among women in their later years.

In attendance at the event were the Executive Secretary of Oyo State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Muideen Olatunji, represented by the Nigeria Country Manager of the programme, Dr Adeyemi Adewole, Dr Adebayo Adebisi and other stakeholders in the healthcare sector in the state.

Speaking with newsmen at the event, Gbadamosi decried the rate at which women come down with cervical cancer in their later years, highlighting the need for teenagers from age 13 to take vaccines to prevent cervical cancer in the future.

He further advised parents not to discourage their teenage children, especially females, from accessing vaccines to prevent cervical cancer and other chronic diseases in the future.

According to Gbadamosi, “The world is moving towards prevention rather than cure. You find out that a lot of women come down with cervical cancer in their later years, in their reproductive age, and this can be prevented.

“When we are talking about vaccination, we are talking about preventive health. You are anticipating that if anything comes, the body is ready to defend against it.

“If we equip all our children before they become sexually active with vaccines to prevent cervical cancer at age 13, that means all our women at that age will hardly come out with cervical cancer, which means that we will have a better reproductive age for women and less mortality. I can assure you that vaccination is safe. It helps us to prevent mortality and prolong life.”

He further stated that the essence of the pharmacy-based immunisation delivery is to bring solutions closer to the people by involving pharmacists all around the state.

The essence of this programme is to bring immunisation closer to the people by involving pharmacists all around Oyo State.

Gbadamosi also highlighted that pharmacists are the closest healthcare practitioners to the people, which is why they are called community pharmacists. This means that everybody will get immunisation wherever they are, compared to when they have to go to general hospitals.

He said HPV and hepatitis vaccines are the major ones for children aged 13 years.