Cervical Cancer Vaccine Is Free And Safe, Says Anambra Health Commissioner
By Chiedu Uche Okoye
The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike, has given the Anambra State people the assurance that the vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer in women is safe, free, and affordable.
He gave the assurance when he fielded questions from town union presidents during the meeting of Anambra State Association of Town Unions(ASATU), which took place in Awka.
He debunked the rumour and myth woven around the vaccine, saying that it cannot make women sterile, rather it has the capacity to destroy nine out of the ten causative agents that cause cervical cancer.
Dr. Obidike advised parents to permit their children to get vaccinated against having cervical cancer, saying that prevention is better than cure.
He said that treating cervical cancer through the use of chemotherapy and surgery is expensive and painful.
Earlier, another contributor to the discussion about cervical cancer vaccine had urged women to let their children be vaccinated against having cervical cancer as the opportunity given to them to get vaccinated in schools and wards would soon end.
She bemoaned the fact that Anambra State, which is among the twenty-one states that received the vaccines, is lagging behind in the cervical cancer vaccination exercise.
"Anambra State is reputed as a state whose sons and daughters are highly educated and well-travelled.
"But our response to this cervical cancer vaccination is not in tandem with our state's slogan, The Light of the Nation," she said.
And while responding to the question, which the ODU President General, Chimezie Obi ( Esq),asked him, Dr. Obidike said that building a general hospital at Obosi had become an overriding imperative owing to Obosi town's burgeoning population.
However, he said that the government is adhering to its policy, which states that one local government must have a general hospital.
He further revealed that the Anambra state government is building general hospitals in these local government areas, namely Anambra West, Anambra North, and Onitsha South.
* Okoye is of the Ministry of Information, Anambra State *
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