HPV Vaccination Drive

Coinciding with the World Cancer Day, Nepal launched a free Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign against cervical cancer on Tuesday. The two-week-long drive seeks to vaccinate around 1.7 million adolescent girls, including those studying in grades 6 to 10 in schools and those aged between 10 and 14 years who are not studying in school. Cervical cancer is considered a silent killer, claiming the lives of 1,313 women annually. Around 2,169 women are diagnosed with this deadly disease. Several studies have revealed that this vaccine provides 97 per cent protection against the HPV. The anti-cervical cancer initiative bears significance given that the country's health facilities are not up to the mark. In the past, many women succumbed to this preventable non-communicable disease in the absence of vaccination. Now with the vaccine invention, more lives have been protected, reducing the death rate of women and increasing their longevity.

The HPV vaccination campaign is a step towards creating ‘Healthy Nepal’, said Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli while initiating it at a function organised at Shivapuri Secondary School in Maharajgunj. Prime Minister Oli handed over health kits to healthcare workers from Kathmandu Metropolitan City-3. He said that the government was putting its best foot forward to rid the country of this terminal disease, ensuring accessible and quality healthcare for all people. Availability of the HPV shots for all eligible girls irrespective of their economic and social status denotes that the government wants to make the health service inclusive and accessible. The private hospitals charge around Rs. 15,000 for a single dose of HPV vaccine which is beyond the capacity of many poor families.  With the support from global partners GAVI, WHO, and UNICEF, the government is giving this vaccine free of cost.

It is a matter of satisfaction that the HPV vaccination is in full swing across the country. Madhes Province, where the backwardness is still stifling the development, is set to vaccinate a total of 369,124 (90 per cent) girls of eligible age group, screen 90 per cent of women aged 30 to 40 for cervical cancer and provide treatment to 90 per cent of women diagnosed with the disease. In Lumbini province, 3000,000 girls will receive the HPV vaccination. It has made extra efforts to cover the out-of-school girls in the vaccination drive. The provincial government has been spending millions of rupees for the treatment of cancer patients, a bid that needs to be replicated by other provinces also because the cancer treatment is costly and the state’s assistance is a must to save the patients. The inter-governmental coordination and effective awareness programmes will enable in administering vaccines to most of the eligible girls.

The World Cancer Day 2025 was observed with a slogan “United by Unique”, emphasising importance of individualised, patient-centered care in the fight against cancer. A study conducted in 2022 showed that there are around 21,766 cancer patients in Nepal and 14,600 died of it. Of 100,000 Nepalis, 81 have been diagnosed with cancer and 55 of them succumb to it. Cancer related to lungs, breast, cervix and stomach is leading cause behind cancer deaths. It has been estimated that the number of cancer patients will increase by 91 per cent in 2050, doubling from the current 22,000 patients to 42,000. In order to prevent rapid spike in cancer rate, it requires timely detection, awareness programmes such as control of tobacco products, expansion of health service infrastructure and investment.