The government has more than 1.3 million doses of the human papillomavirus vaccines in stock, as it gets ready to roll out mass immunisation on Friday.
The government, with the support of the Gavi Alliance and partners, plans to introduce the HPV vaccine into the routine immunisation schedule.
Targeted in the drive are 800,000 girls aged 10 years.
The official roll-out will take place in Mvita, Mombasa county this Friday. The estimated cost of the vaccines is Sh800 per dose.
All girls aged 10 years will receive two doses of the vaccine, six months apart in the form of an injection in the muscle of the upper arm.
The vaccine will be offered nationally alongside other routine infant vaccines through an existing network of over 9,000 public, private, faith-based and NGO health facilities free of charge.
Vaccination cards will be given to those who receive the jab for tracking and traceability purposes.
“Cervical cancer is the only cancer that is 100 per cent preventable. Nearly all (99.7 per cent) of cervical cancers are caused by HPV Infections. Preventing HPV, therefore, protects you from cervical cancer later in life,” the head of the National Vaccine Immunisation Programme in Kenya Dr Collins Tabu said.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, even in monogamous relationships.
More than 90 per cent of HPV infections resolve spontaneously, in a number of cases it causes genital warts and cancer including cancers of the cervix, anus, penis, vagina, vulva and throat.
There is no way to know or predict which people who have HPV will develop cancer
There are over 100 different types of HPV viruses; the most common HPV types in cervical cancer are types 16 at 57 per cent and 18 at 16 per cent.
“The quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil) due for introduction in Kenya targets these two HPV strains responsible for approximately 70 per cent of cervical cancers and 90 per cent of genital warts,” Dr Tabu noted.
Kenya becomes the 116th country to introduce the vaccine under its routine immunisation programme.
“There were no adverse side effects witnessed during the trial we undertook in Kitui in 2015. But like any other vaccine you will expect the normal swelling of the tissue in the area of the jab,” Health CS Sicily Kariuki said yesterday.
Statistics from the ministry show that nine women die daily in Kenya from cervical cancer. Globally, cancer remains a major public health concern.
Last year alone, 18.1 million new cases were diagnosed with 9.6 million deaths reported.
The leading cancers in incidence are lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer (6.1 per cent), while lung, colorectal, stomach and liver cancer lead in cancer-related deaths.
(edited by O. Owino)
