Source: 24 TANZANIA
THE growing number of cervical cancer cases has prompted the government to introduce the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine as a future preventive measure for the killer disease.

The vaccine will be provided to girls aged between 9 and 13 years. According to current data, cervical cancer kills over 1,100 women in the country annually.

The HPV vaccine prevents infection with certain species of human papillomavirus associated with the development of cervical cancer, genital warts and some less common cancers.

This was revealed in Dar es Salaam by the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Seif Rashid, during an official visit by the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna and to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI).

"Cervical cancer remains a threat. It is estimated that 6,241 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,355 die of the disease in the country every year," said Dr Rashid.

He added that more than 11 million women who had reached puberty were diagnosed with cervical cancer annually, adding that in order to protect young women from such disease the vaccine was essential.

The Minister further said that 50 per cent of women suffering from cancer had cervical cancer and about 80 per cent of them were attending clinic. He said technical assistance from IAEA had been helpful in attending to some cancer patients.

He said that since cancer treatment was very costly it was crucial to be vaccinated, adding that a single dose costs 100 US dollars (about 160,000/-) and a recipient is required to take three doses.

The US Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna (UNVIE), Ambassador Joseph Macmanus, said among programmes IAEA had supported in Africa and has been seeking support from donor countries was addressing the growing problem of cancer.

"Cancer is a global issue, a public health problem and very often the direct problem of cancer aren't able to be addressed because of the development level in the country - either the means are not there or training is lacking," he said.

Mr Macmanus said they had been supporting programmes to conduct studies or assessment of national cancer fighting capabilities in individual countries in order to make recommendations that would help to build that capacity.

Elaborating, he said there were available techniques in helping to address cancer and people had become very familiar with radiation therapy, yet the capability of using radiation to mitigate cancer and tumors was not a technology that was widespread in Africa.

"It is crucial for Africa to seek cooperation from other countries which are much more advanced and have been using that technology for a very long time," the envoy said.

 

Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare,Dr Seif Rashid

• Tanzania