January 8, 2025
Achieving 71% HPV Vaccination Coverage in Nigeria
In under two years, Nigeria has achieved a 71% national Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination coverage rate for girls aged 9-14, resulting in the vaccination of over 12 million girls across the country. The HPV vaccine can prevent more than 90% of cases of cervical cancer, the second deadliest cancer among women aged between 15 and 44 in Nigeria. This translates into potentially preventing up to 10,000 new cases and 7,000 deaths annually.
Dr. Njideka Kanu, an Epidemiologist with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) and an IPPHL Cohort 6 alumna, led the national team to support the vaccine introduction in Anambra and Delta States and played a crucial role in integrating the (HPV) vaccine into Nigeria’s national immunization program.
Dr. Kanu has been instrumental in the vaccine’s integration into the national immunization program. She and her team at the NPHCDA built a massive coordination effort at the national, state, and local levels. National representatives worked closely with state teams to develop strategies to reach girls in schools, places of worship, and communities, with special attention placed on hard-to-reach areas. The team engaged in a public awareness campaign through press engagements, radio jingles, and sensitization sessions. Finally, they developed a uniform micro-planning template that was shared across states for consistency and conducted training at the national, state, and local government levels for health workers, vaccinators, recorders, town announcers, and community leaders. The vaccine rollout was officially launched on May 27, 2023, coinciding with Children’s Day in Nigeria. The launch, led by the first ladies of each state, aimed to maximize visibility and impact. Dr. Kanu and her team followed with a nationwide campaign targeting schools, communities, and places of worship for the next 4 to 5 days.
Dr. Kanu’s skills in stakeholder mapping, advocacy, and communication enabled her team to identify and prioritize key players, secure resources from high-level stakeholders, coordinate the vaccine rollout, and deploy effective advocacy strategies for addressing vaccine-hesitancy.
In an interview with IPPHL , Njideka highlights how her training as a public health physician and a field epidemiologist has helped shaped the way she works now, especially in health system management and outbreak response. She plays a pivotal role in the Department of Disease Control and Immunization where her responsibilities include strengthening primary healthcare systems with a focus on disease control and immunization efforts in Nigeria. Please watch here.