Health Minister reaffirms commitment to control cervical cancer in Nepal

Kathmandu, Dec 4: Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Paudel said that a nationwide vaccination campaign was soon to be launched in Nepal to protect adolescent girls from cervical cancer.     

Reaffirming government's commitment to eliminate the cervical cancer in Nepal, Minister Paudel shared that two-week long HPV vaccination drive would be launched from coming February 5.     

The Minister said so addressing the meeting of the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) at Bali, Indonesia today.     

The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination drive aims to vaccinate nearly 1.69 million girls from 7-14 years of age group for free of cost.     

The Minister expressed his confidence that the soon-to-be launched campaign would be an important achievement not only for Nepal but in the global strategy to control cervical cancer.     

Stating that Nepal would coordinate efforts with the GAVI to determine the areas of priorities for vaccination, he apprised the meeting about government's plan to launch vaccination drive against Hepatitis B and Cholera soon.     

Highlighting challenges such as negligible allocation of budget for health sector and lack of human resources to launch vaccination drive in Nepal, he called for GAVI's assistance in strengthening public health sector and enhancing capacity of the healthcare providers in Nepal. (RSS)