Centre to provide cervical cancer vaccines to school girls

NEW DELHI: The central government has announced that it will primarily provide vaccination against cervical cancer to school girls. The centre has asked all states and union territories to create awareness on prevention of cervical cancer and the importance of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine among girl students across the country.

The vaccination would be provided primarily through schools (grade based approach: Class 5 to Class 10 ) as school enrolment of girls is high. In order to reach those girls who are unable to attend school on the campaign day, the vaccination would be provided at a health facility while for out-of-school girls the campaign would be conducted through Community Outreach and Mobile teams based on age (9-14 years). For registration, recording and reporting of vaccination numbers, the U-WIN App would be used.

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In a joint letter issued by the union education secretary Sanjay Kumar and union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, it has been highlighted that globally, cervical cancer is the 4th most common cancer in women.

In the letter, the states and UTs have been requested to issue necessary directions at appropriate levels for taking up the following activities in order to make the campaign a successful:

• Organizing HPV vaccination centres in schools for vaccination.
• Directing District Education Officer to support District Immunization Officer and be part of efforts of District Task Force on Immunization (DTFI) under District Magistrate.
• Coordinating with government school and private school management board in the district.
• Identifying a nodal person in each school to coordinate vaccination activities and collate the number of 9-14 years of girls in the school and bulk upload the same in U-WIN.
• Generating awareness through school teachers to all parents during Special Parents-Teachers’ Meeting (PTAs).
• Supporting in generating an up-to date list of all types of school (UDISE+) in each block for micro planning and access to GlS mapping of schools to districts immunization officers for developing micro-plans so that none of the school is missed during the vaccination drive.
• Supporting health team to plan vaccination campaign in state excluding months of examination and holiday