Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
    • Editorial Team
    • Leadership and Management
    • Events
    • Magazine
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
    • Partnership
    • Supported contents
  • Media Corner
    • Journalist Cancer Guide
    • Cancer Journalism Award
    • Cancer Journalist Grant
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Cancerworld Magazine
Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
    • Editorial Team
    • Leadership and Management
    • Events
    • Magazine
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
    • Partnership
    • Supported contents
  • Media Corner
    • Journalist Cancer Guide
    • Cancer Journalism Award
    • Cancer Journalist Grant
Cancerworld Magazine > News > HPV vaccine “lying around” unused in Africa due to pandemic disruption
  • News

HPV vaccine “lying around” unused in Africa due to pandemic disruption

  • 19 March 2021
  • Esther Nakkazi
HPV vaccine “lying around” unused in Africa due to pandemic disruption
Total
4
Shares
4
0
0
0
0

Vaccinations for human papillomavirus (HPV) in Africa are well below World Health Organisation (WHO) targets due to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions.

The WHO Africa region target was to have 35 countries introduce the HPV vaccine by 2020, but only 16 countries have been able to meet that target, according to WHO. There is low demand for the HPV vaccine as countries focus on rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine, and access to eligible girls is limited due to school closures and government-imposed lockdowns.

The price for the vaccine is particularly high for countries that do not receive funding from GAVI, the global health partnership aiming to increase access to immunisation in low to middle income countries.

In some African countries cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death in women. It is estimated that the HPV vaccine can reduce deaths from cervical cancer by two-thirds if uptake reaches 80%. But some countries have not introduced it and others have reversed earlier gains.

“The pandemic has diverted countries’ attention from other vaccines to the COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr Phiona Atuhebwe, a vaccinologist and new vaccines introduction medical officer at the World Health Organization.

“We have vaccines lying around and we do not know what to do with them because countries are busy planning for COVID-19 vaccines,” she told Cancer World. In some countries where HPV was to be introduced, misinformation about vaccines, heightened by COVID vaccine development, hindered its introduction.

In Cameroon, for example, there was confusion that the HPV vaccine was the COVID vaccine. This led to suspicion. “The issue was the infodemic that came with COVID-19,” said Dr Atuhebwe. “Because we were introducing a new vaccine during the COVID-19 season, everyone was saying this is a new vaccine they are going to try on us.”

“We have missed opportunities for HPV vaccination in women who would have benefitted from early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions because of COVID-19,” says Pauline Picho Keronyai, the Executive Director of Nama Wellness Community Center (NAWEC), located in Mukono district of Uganda.

The exact impact of COVID-19 on HPV vaccinations remains unknown, according to GAVI. “We will have more visibility on the impact of the pandemic on vaccination once the Joint Reporting Form mechanism to report country immunisation data comes in May 2021,” said a GAVI spokesperson.

For now, production of the HPV vaccine continues. Last year vaccine manufacturers – MSD, GSK, Innovax, Serum Institute of India and Walvax – pledged to ramp up availability for GAVI-supported countries and vaccinate 84 million girls between 2016 and 2020, leading to the prevention of an estimated 1.4 million future deaths from cervical cancer.

“We never reduced distribution of vaccines to countries – the allocated amount remained but we gave flexibility to countries to plan shipment based on health situations on the ground, and manufacturers gave us a great deal of flexibility on timelines,” said Dr Atuhebwe.

Missed HPV vaccinations in Uganda

Globally, the East African region carries the highest burden of cervical cancer. Uganda is among the five countries with the highest rates in Africa with 8 out of every 10 women seen at the Uganda Cancer Institute suffering from cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the second-most common form of cancer in women living in less-developed regions. It is the number one cause of cancer-related death in women in Uganda causing half of female deaths.

Because of COVID-19 disruptions in 2020, 1.2 million children aged 10-11 years missed cervical cancer vaccinations according to the Ministry of Health. Uptake of the second dose has remained particularly low and last year it was the lowest ever recorded since the HPV was introduced in Uganda in November 2015.

According to Dr Immaculate Ampaire, Deputy Manager of the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization (UNEPI), uptake for the second dose of the vaccine was 38% in 2020 compared to 65% in 2019.

“The ban on big gatherings, closure of schools and transport restrictions greatly affected our community outreach activities which mainly focus on cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination,” said Keronyai. Lack of PPE made it difficult for health workers to reach patients, and many clients could not afford transport costs to health facilities.

Uganda is now one of the 40 African countries that have included HPV vaccine in their national vaccination schedules. The HPV vaccine should be delivered routinely during outreach immunisation sessions and intensified through Integrated Child Health Days where health workers conduct school-based work.

“When schools open we shall catch up,” said Dr Ampaire. About 80-90% of the girls are vaccinated in schools. Dr Ampaire explained that currently most parents are only bringing infants to health facilities for immunisation and fail to bring eligible girls along.
Health workers who are stuck in campaign mode also mobilise infants and forget to drum up support for girls to get the HPV jab.

“We now know that the community based model does not work. We need the schools based model again,” said Dr Ampaire.

Total
4
Shares
Share 4
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Africa
  • HPV vaccine
Esther Nakkazi

Esther Nakkazi is a freelance Science and Technology Reporter. She writes for various media outlets around the globe and is also a media trainer and mentors journalists in science reporting and blogger at Uganda ScieGirl. She is the founder of the Health Journalists Network in Uganda. 

Previous Article
  • Supported contents

Optimisation and Efficiency in Cancer Care

  • 15 March 2021
  • Adriana Albini
View Post
Next Article
  • Obituaries

Giorgio Parmiani: Cancer immunology looses a mentor and a pioneer

  • 24 March 2021
  • Adriana Albini
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • News

Study highlights need to reanalyse genomics and genetics of metastatic tumours

  • Janet Fricker
  • 27 January 2023
View Post
  • News

Current cervical cancer screening paradigm fails older women

  • Janet Fricker
  • 26 January 2023
View Post
  • News

Call-to-arms for Europe to provide essential paediatric anti-cancer medicines

  • Janet Fricker
  • 9 January 2023
View Post
  • News

Exercise-stimulated myokine production can extend survival in advanced prostate cancer

  • Janet Fricker
  • 9 January 2023
View Post
  • News

Five San Antonio take-aways to improve care of breast cancer patients

  • Janet Fricker
  • 16 December 2022
View Post
  • News

Repurposed drug combination reduces risk of recurrence following surgery for colorectal cancer

  • Janet Fricker
  • 16 December 2022
View Post
  • News

Aerobic activity to outcompete metastasis 

  • Janet Fricker
  • 2 December 2022
View Post
  • News

Ending cancer inequalities: European summit showcases new tools to inform policy

  • Anna Wagstaff
  • 30 November 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

search
or search in Cancerworld archive
Newsletter

Subscribe free to
Cancerworld!

We'll keep you informed of the latest features and news with a fortnightly email

Subscribe now
Latest News
  • Study highlights need to reanalyse genomics and genetics of metastatic tumours
    • 27 January 2023
  • Current cervical cancer screening paradigm fails older women
    • 26 January 2023
  • Call-to-arms for Europe to provide essential paediatric anti-cancer medicines
    • 9 January 2023
  • Exercise-stimulated myokine production can extend survival in advanced prostate cancer
    • 9 January 2023
  • Five San Antonio take-aways to improve care of breast cancer patients
    • 16 December 2022
Article
  • The cancer patients still struggling to access drugs in the wake of anti-corruption reforms
    • 27 January 2023
  • Immunotherapy: outcomes of ultra low-dose trial offer hope for better global access
    • 26 January 2023
  • Cervical cancer elimination efforts boosted by simpler ways to identify and treat pre-cancerous lesions
    • 12 January 2023
Latest printed issue
Social

Would you follow us ?

Contents
  • AI in Genomics and Reporting for Clinical Practice
    • 26 January 2023
  • Telemedicine in Cancer Care: Monitoring, Follow-Up,Tele-Rehabilitation, Palliative and Supportive Care
    • 23 January 2023
  • AI application in diagnosis
    • 11 January 2023
MENU
  • About the Magazine
    • Editorial Team
    • Leadership and Management
    • Events
    • Magazine
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
    • Partnership
    • Supported contents
  • Media Corner
    • Journalist Cancer Guide
    • Cancer Journalism Award
    • Cancer Journalist Grant
Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
  • Articles
  • Media Corner
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Cancerworld is funded by SPCC Sharing Progress in Cancer Care | Via Vincenzo Vela 6, 6500 Bellinzona - Switzerland | info@spcc.net

Archivio Cancerworld

Input your search keywords and press Enter.