Karachi: The Federal Minister of Health Mustafa Kamal had his daughter vaccinated against cervical cancer to dispel rumors surrounding the vaccination campaign by the current HPV.
The daughter of the federal minister was administered by the HPV vaccine during a ceremony at the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (RID) in Karachi on Saturday.
Addressing the media, Kamal – the former mayor of Karachi – said: “Vaccination against cervical cancer has already been carried out in almost all Islamic countries.”
He said that deceptive propaganda had been widespread since the campaign is launched and stressed that no girl in the country should lose her life because of this disease.
Kamal, who is also a leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), said that it was a difficult decision to bring his family before the media. “My only daughter is as precious to me as each girl from the nation.”
He expressed the hope that his act would bring a change in society on the vaccine.
The federal minister stressed that if the vaccine had faults, he would not have enabled his daughter to receive it.
“Pakistan is the 151st country in the world where this vaccine is administered,” he added.
College cervical cancer is among the most preventable but fatal diseases for women, claiming a life every two minutes in the world – and almost 94% of these deaths occur in low and intermediate income countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Globally, it is the fourth most common cancer in women, but in Pakistan, the situation is even more alarming, because it is the second most common cancer in women in the country. Each year, more than 5,000 Pakistani women have diagnosed it and nearly 3,000 of them lose their lives.
At the heart of this disease is HPV, the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract. While most of the infections go out naturally, high -risk persistent VPH strains can cause cervical cancer. The tragedy is that this cancer is largely avoidable.
There is a safe vaccine that prevents more than 90% of high -risk HPV infections and can avoid nearly 17 deaths for 1,000 vaccinated girls.
In a historic stage, Pakistan on September 15 deployed the first phase of the vaccination campaign by HPV with a 12 -day effort targeting the Sindh, Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad.
The vaccine, intended for girls aged 9 to 14, is delivered mainly in schools and will later be integrated into the national immunization program, finally reaching nearly 18 million girls nationwide.
The launch also firmly places Pakistan on the right track towards the realization of the targets for the elimination of WHO collar cancer by 2030 by vaccinating 90% of girls at the age of 15, detecting 70% of women and ensuring that 90% of people with the disease receive a timely treatment.
