Schoolgirls get HPV vaccination in KwaMakhutha
Schoolgirls from the age of nine are vaccinated against the human papillomavirus to prevent infection later in life.
DR SIBONGISENI Dhlomo, the deputy minister of the Department of Health, marked the 10 years since the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign was rolled out by visiting Sesifikile Primary School in KwaMakhutha on February 26.
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HPV is mostly transmitted through sexual intercourse and can cause warts in various parts of the body, depending on the strain. Research has shown it can cause cervical cancer in women later in life. In 2014, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health rolled out a vaccination campaign to vaccinate nine-year-old girls against the virus to prevent infection later in life.
Dr Dhlomo commended the parents for signing consent forms to allow school health nurses to proceed with vaccinations.
“Through advice from the World Health Organisation, we are reducing the two doses to one dose. As the government, we are planning to take this HPV vaccine campaign to private schools later this year because we have been doing it in public schools,” he said.
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