{"id":6081,"date":"2024-02-13T11:50:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T16:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/?p=6081"},"modified":"2025-09-19T10:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T14:24:22","slug":"pathfinder-to-enhance-hpv-vaccine-awareness-and-uptake-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/news\/pathfinder-to-enhance-hpv-vaccine-awareness-and-uptake-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Pathfinder to Enhance HPV Vaccine Awareness and Uptake in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Abuja, Nigeria, February 7, 2024\u2014<\/strong>Pathfinder will contribute to the prevention of cervical cancer in Nigeria\u2019s Kano, Lagos, and Kaduna states through a newly awarded project: <em>Enhancing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Awareness and Uptake in Nigeria<\/em>. The project is funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the next two years, Pathfinder will collaborate with the Medical Women\u2019s Association of Nigeria, the Nigeria Cancer Society, and government agencies to launch an advocacy, community outreach, and communication campaign related to cervical cancer prevention. The campaign seeks to increase uptake of the HPV vaccine, awareness about cervical cancer, and use of self-care practices. As recommended by the World Health Organization, the HPV vaccine is primarily meant for girls ages 9-14, before initiation of sexual activity.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/20-12-2022-WHO-updates-recommendations-on-HPV-vaccination-schedule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a><\/sup> The project will support vaccination of in-school and out-of-school adolescent girls. The project will seek to increase trust of the vaccine among communities to ensure eligible adolescent girls receive vaccinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe introduction of the HPV vaccine into the Nigeria Routine Immunization Schedule is a giant step in promoting the health of girls and women,\u201d said Dr. Sakina Amin Bello, Senior Program Advisor, Pathfinder Nigeria. \u201cWe are honored to work with governments, at both national and state levels, and our local partners in giving girls ages 9-14 years the lifesaving HPV vaccine to protect them against cervical cancer.\u201d HPV is the cause of almost all cervical cancer cases. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women ages 15-44 in Nigeria, with over 12,000 cases diagnosed annually. It is estimated that about 3.5% of women in Nigeria have a cervical HPV-16\/18 infection at a given time, and 66.9% of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to HPVs 16 or 18.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/hpvcentre.net\/statistics\/reports\/NGA_FS.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a><\/sup> Among women ages 25-49 in Nigeria, cervical cancer screening rates are low, with 14% ever tested, 11% tested in the last five years, and 8% tested in the previous three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project will draw from Pathfinder\u2019s experience implementing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/news\/pathfinder-international-awarded-macarthur-funds-supporting-an-equitable-recovery\/\">Accelerating Equitable Access, Acceptance, and Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccine (ACCESS) Project<\/a> in Kano and Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pathfinder will contribute to the prevention of cervical cancer in Nigeria\u2019s Kano, Lagos, and Kaduna states through a newly awarded project: Enhancing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Awareness and Uptake in Nigeria. The project is funded by the Bill &#038; Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":8284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/pathfinder-default-IMG-A-comp-600x398.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/pathfinder-default-IMG-A-comp-600x398.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Jade Taylor","author_link":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/author\/jtaylor\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathfinder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}