By Kudakwashe Pembere
The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage is failing to recover from the harsh effects of the COVID-19 era with data showing that the country is off-trail and coverage has plummeted to record low levels.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora told this publication on the side-lines of the World Health Day and Expanded Programme on Immunization’s (EPI) golden jubilee commemorations held in Harare on Thursday the pandemic affected school-to-school HPV vaccination campaigns.
Yes, there was a drop but this was mainly because of COVID outbreak. Because we had actually reached 80% coverage. Now, during COVID, because people were not moving into the schools. And schools actually got closed at some time, so that coverage went down,” the Health Minister said.
He said they had a long meeting on Wednesday with the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) to ensure Zimbabwe gets back on track with the HPV vaccination.
“Now, the challenge is actually to get the vaccines for us to do a catch up for the HPV vaccination. But we have been in communication with GAVI.
“Yesterday we had a very lengthy meeting which took us into the evening. And I think Government is going to be able to supply those vaccines to do a catch up for the HPV vaccination. I think we will be on course very soon,” Dr Mombeshora said.
The country’s HPV vaccination coverage according to Zimbabwe’s EPI manager Ms Colleen Chigodo trailed off from 80 percent to undesired levels below 50 percent.
“But we are having another problem now of human papillomavirus vaccine. Yes, before we introduced it in 2018, we had a coverage of above 80 percent. Currently the coverage is very low, it’s below 50 percent,” she said. “Our children when they grow up, they are not protected against cervical cancer.”
She said Government is working alongside its partners for fortify the HPV vaccination status.
“HPV vaccination is one of the strategies to prevent cervical cancer. So the coverage is very low but there are strategies which are in place with our partners. There is a plan to strengthen our vaccination status to target the girls within our communities so that we prevent cervical cancer in the future among our communities,” she said.
Cervical cancer continues to be a major public health issue in Zimbabwe, ranking fourth worldwide and regionally in terms of incidence and mortality. Each year, around 3,043 women in Zimbabwe are diagnosed with cervical cancer, with 1 976 lives succumbing to the disease. Although Zimbabwe has implemented screening programs, access to these services remains inconsistent. In 2019, only 20% of the population had access to cervical cancer screening, with urban areas reporting alarmingly low rates of 3% and rural areas showing slightly higher rates at 10%.
Despite this, Zimbabwe has made commendable progress in its response to cervical cancer. In 2018, the country introduced an HPV vaccination program with an impressive coverage rate of 89.7% in its inaugural year. To improve screening services, Zimbabwe now has over 200 sites conducting Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIAC) and 60 sites performing HPV tests, facilitating early detection and prompt intervention.
