HPV vaccination is one of the most effective forms of cancer prevention, yet in Cameroon the vaccination rate is just 5%. Stephanie Ferguson reports on the grassroots efforts starting to achieve success in improving the rate Curious to gain knowledge about her own health, a young grandmother attended the launch of the Women’s Health Programme in northern Cameroon at the end of January 2024. Moved by the sessions on cervical cancer prevention and the human papilloma virus (HPV), she corralled her seven grandchildren and returned to Meskine Baptist Hospital. Together, they received the HPV vaccine. Another woman from Chad made the two day journey through dangerous territory to access the free clinic and the vaccine. Reports of such success are encouraging in countries that sit well below global targets for vaccine uptake as a prevention strategy for cervical cancer. These two stories relate to one programme run by the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, part of its campaign to improve women’s health and promote the benefits of vaccination against HPV. Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, responsible for more than 300 000 deaths annually. Almost 90% of these preventable deaths occur in low-to-middle income countries.1 Nearly all cases of cervical cancer are attributable to the HPV virus, with a recent study showing no cases of cervical cancer when women were fully vaccinated against HPV at the age of 12 or 13.2 Many high income countries have reached an 80% vaccination rate, but despite the first HPV vaccine becoming available in 2006, low-to-middle income countries generally have rates around …

中文翻译：

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HPV：喀麦隆反击世界上疫苗接种率最低的国家之一


HPV 疫苗接种是最有效的癌症预防方式之一，但在喀麦隆，疫苗接种率仅为 5%。斯蒂芬妮·弗格森 (Stephanie Ferguson) 报道了基层努力在提高死亡率方面开始取得成功的情况。一位年轻的祖母出于好奇，想了解自己的健康状况，参加了 2024 年 1 月底在喀麦隆北部启动的妇女健康计划。为了预防宫颈癌和人乳头状瘤病毒（HPV），她带着七个孙子回到了梅斯金浸信会医院。他们一起接种了 HPV 疫苗。另一位来自乍得的妇女花了两天的时间穿越危险地区前往免费诊所和接种疫苗。对于那些远低于疫苗接种作为宫颈癌预防策略的全球目标的国家来说，这种成功的报告令人鼓舞。这两个故事与喀麦隆浸信会健康服务中心开展的一项计划有关，该计划是其改善妇女健康和宣传 HPV 疫苗接种益处运动的一部分。在全球范围内，宫颈癌是女性第四大常见癌症，每年导致超过 300 万人死亡。这些可预防的死亡中几乎 90% 发生在中低收入国家。 1 几乎所有宫颈癌病例都可归因于 HPV 病毒，最近的一项研究表明，当女性在 1 月份全面接种 HPV 疫苗时，没有出现宫颈癌病例。 12 岁或 13.2 岁许多高收入国家的疫苗接种率已达到 80%，但尽管第一种 HPV 疫苗于 2006 年问世，中低收入国家的疫苗接种率普遍约为……