Karachi: Federal Minister of Health Mustafa Kamal had his daughter vaccinated against cervical cancer to expel rumors around the current HPV vaccination campaign.
The daughter of the federal minister received the HPV vaccineschot on Saturday during a ceremony at the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drapistan) in Karachi on Saturday.
Speaking with the media, Kamal – the former mayor of Karachi – said: “The vaccination against cervical cancer has already been performed in almost all Islamic countries.”
He said that misleading propaganda was spread since the campaign was launched and emphasized that no girl in the country would lose her life to this disease.
Kamal, who is also a senior leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), said it was a difficult decision to bring his family to the media. “My only daughter is just as precious for me as every daughter of the nation.”
He expressed the hope that his act would change in society about the vaccine.
The federal minister emphasized that if the vaccine had errors, he would not have had his daughter received.
“Pakistan is the 151st country in the world where this vaccine is administered,” he added.
Cervical cancer is one of the most common but fatal diseases for women who claim one life worldwide every two minutes worldwide and almost 94% of those deaths occur in low and middle income countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Worldwide it is the fourth most common cancer in women, but in Pakistan the situation is still alarming, because it is the second most common cancer in women in the country. Every year more than 5,000 Pakistani women are established, and almost 3,000 of them lose their lives.
The core of this disease is HPV, the most common viral infection of the reproductive channel. Although most infections are naturally clear, persistent HPV tribes with a high risk of cervical cancer can cause. The tragedy is that this cancer can largely be prevented.
There is a safe vaccine that prevents more than 90% of HPV infections with a high risk and can prevent nearly 17 deaths per 1,000 girls.
In a historic step, Pakistan rolled out the first phase of the HPV vaccination campaign on 15 September with a 12-day effort aimed at Sindh, Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad.
The vaccine, aimed at girls between 9 and 14 years old, is mainly supplied through schools and will later be integrated into the national immunization program, eventually in the entire country of nearly 18 million girls.
The launch also places Pakistan on its way to achieve the WHOs cervical cancer -elimination goals by 2030 by vaccinating 90% of the girls at the age of 15, screening 70% of women and ensuring that 90% of those with the disease receive timely treatment.
