Baitadi targets 2,453 girls for HPV vaccination campaign

Baitadi: To reduce cervical cancer, girls studying in grade 6 and those within the target age group will be vaccinated with HPV. The HPV vaccination campaign against cervical cancer will be conducted from Magh 10 to Falgun 2.

As part of the campaign, 2,453 girls will be vaccinated across all 10 local levels in the district, said Harish Bhatta, Vaccination Supervisor Inspector at the Health Office, Baitadi. According to Bhatta, the vaccination will target girls studying in grade 6, 10-year-old girls who are out of school, and girls who were missed in last year’s campaign. He said that HPV vaccination has been included in the regular vaccination program from this year.

The target has been set to vaccinate a total of 2,453 girls in the district, including 2,386 girls studying in grade 6, 61 girls who missed last year, and 6 girls who are out of school.

Earlier, during the campaign conducted last year, 10,310 girls studying in grades 6 to 10 and out-of-school girls aged 10 to 14 were given HPV vaccination. Similarly, Acting Chief of District Hospital Baitadi, Dr. Pawin Upadhyay, said that the HPV vaccine is completely safe and can be administered with confidence.

Since cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women in Nepal, timely vaccination is essential to prevent the disease.