HPV Vaccine Campaign to Target Over 6,700 Girls in Chitwan to Prevent Cervical Cancer

Chitwan. The HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer, will be administered to 6,768 adolescent girls in the district. The vaccine will be provided to these girls through 725 schools and 114 health centers here.

According to Nirmal Ghimire, Chief of the Public Health Office, the necessary vaccine for the inoculation has arrived. He stated, "Seven thousand vaccines required for the inoculation have arrived." This vaccine is intended for adolescent girls aged 10 to 14 years.

He informed that the vaccines will be administered at the vaccination centers to adolescent girls from grades 7 to 10 in schools, and to adolescent girls aged 11 to 14 who are out of school. He further stated that the vaccination campaign is scheduled to run from Magh 25 to Falgun 1.

Ghimire stated that there is no need to operate external vaccination centers in Chitwan for the HPV vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. The District Level Vaccine Coordination Committee meeting held today regarding the preparation for the vaccination campaign concluded that external vaccination centers are not necessary in Chitwan.

According to Ghimire, external centers are not required because there are vaccination centers at the ward level in all local levels of the district. He said, "We have our own vaccination centers. The plan is to administer the vaccine by visiting every school. External vaccination centers are not needed in the district." A total of 325 vaccinators and 325 volunteers will be mobilized for the campaign.

On the occasion, Narayan Prasad Adhikari, Chief of the District Coordination Committee, and Dr. Ankit Paudel, Chief of Bharatpur Hospital, stated that this vaccine is mandatory given the increasing number of women dying from cervical cancer in Nepal. They emphasized that everyone's cooperation is necessary to make this campaign successful.