Ethiopia's Ministry of Health said in 2019 that the human papillomavirus vaccine had been offered to 96 percent of eligible girls, APA reported, months after a nationwide school-based launch.
Children at a vaccinations clinic near Sululta, Ethiopia, May 2012 (DFID / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0) [file photo]
WHO's Africa office said Ethiopia introduced HPV vaccination on Dec. 3, 2018, at Tesfa Kokeb Primary School in Addis Ababa's Lideta sub-city, aiming to reach more than one million 14-year-old girls through schools, with out-of-school girls served at health facilities.
A global vaccine shortage forced the country to start with a single age cohort instead of the full 9-to-14 group of roughly six million girls, WHO said. Health Minister Amir Aman and State Minister Lia Tadesse led the launch; former first lady Roman Tesfaye spoke as a cancer-prevention ambassador.
Cervical cancer, driven mainly by HPV, is a leading cancer killer of women in Ethiopia. The 2019 ministry figure reflected administrative coverage of the first target cohort; later WHO estimates for the broader 9-to-14 age group have been lower, so the two series should not be mixed without care.
Sources: APA / Journal du Cameroun, WHO Regional Office for Africa