Reach more than 6700 Young Girls in Rural Uganda Vaccination against the human pillomavirus (HPV) is key to preventing cervical cancer.

Joining the WHO global effort to eliminate cervical cancer*, the African Action Network for Nurses and Midwives (AAN) implemented several campaigns to inform and vaccinate girls in rural primary schools in the Kikuube and West Nile districts of Uganda.
6752 primary school children were sensitized, and 4059 girls 10-15 years-of-age were vaccinated against HPV , the principal cause of cervical cancer.

The HPV vaccination campaigns were carried out in 20 primary schools in Uganda’s West Nile region by a joint effort of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union (UNMU) and UPLIFT West Nile, resulting in 3873 girls receiving the HPV vaccination.

In Uganda’s Kikuube District, nursing students from the Kampala International University School of Nursing and the Aga Khan University School of Nursing implemented HPV sensitization and vaccination campaigns in 7 primary schools resulting in 2879 primary school children sensitized on HPV and cervical cancer and 390 10-year-old girls vaccinated against HPV.

Heroic Polio Vaccination Campaign

At this time, AAN salutes
the 2000+ health & community outreach workers, many of them Nurses,
who successfully completed the first phase of the Gaza polio vaccination campaign.

More than 500,000 children under ten years of age were vaccinated with the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2)** in central Gaza during phase one of a polio vaccination campaign, conducted between 1–3 September 2024. Phase one conducted by 513 teams composed of 2180 health and community outreach workers, at 143 sites – hospitals, medical points and primary care centers. Mobile teams visited hard to-reach areas.

Notes to Editors:

*Cervical cancer is the 4th most common form of cancer among women worldwide, with the disease claiming the lives of almost 350,000 women in 2022. More than 90% of those deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Yet it is preventable and curable. The World Health Organization has launched a global Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative for the elimination of cervical cancer. https://www.who.int/initiatives/cervical-cancer-elimination-initiative

**Novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV2) is a polio vaccine being used to stop transmission of variant poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), currently the most prevalent form of the variant poliovirus. 

The Africa Action Network for Nurses (AAN) works in 11 Eastern & Southern African
countries, supporting health systems through immunization implementation and advocacy and enhanced access to reusable PPE. www.africactionetwork.com For more information contact Linda Carrier-Walker lcw@carrierwalker.ch