Niger State Governor has urged family heads and religious leaders to encourage women to undertake the HPV, Cervical cancer screening.
Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello has called on family heads and religious leaders in the state to encourage their women and daughters of reproductive age to undertake Human Papilloma Virus, HPV, and Cervical Cancer screening.
Bello made the call during the flag off of the Human Papilloma Virus, HPV, and Cervical Cancer prevention Services at the Jummai Babangida Maternal and Neonatal Hospital, Minna, Niger State.
The wife of the Governor, Dr. Amina Sani Bello also explained that Cervical Cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer among women globally affecting about 1.4 million women and the most common cancer among women living with HIV.
Dr. Amina Bello revealed that in Nigeria, an estimated 36.59m women above 15 years of age are at risk of developing the disease.
She said, “The annual incidence and mortality are approximately 570,000 and 311,000 respectively.
Unfortunately, about 80% of this number occur in the low-and-middle-income countries including Nigeria”
” In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for global action towards the elimination of cervical cancer to achieve less than four new cases per 100,000 women.
”This strategy rests on three main pillars: Prevention through vaccination, screening and treatment of precancerous lesions, treatment and palliative care for invasive cervical cancer,” the governor’s wife added.
