International Women’s Day: 200 girls vaxxed against HPV/cervical cancer vaccine at UP governor house

On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the Uttar Pradesh governor invited 200 women for being administered doses of Human papillomavirus (HPV) for free at cervical cancer awareness camp, organised at the Raj Bhavan, on Monday. The governor also released the book ‘Cervical cancer aur HPV tikakaran evam jaankari.’

Governor Anandiben Patel asked parents to pay special attention to their daughters and particularly their diet and all the women should give importance to practicing personal hygiene, she said. She asked the family to be aware of the life-saving vaccines and medicines that would prevent them from different diseases and for this information to reach rural pockets.

The vaccines were administered by a medical team from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences  to protect girls from cervical cancer. HPV is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract that can cause cervical cancer  and that occurs in cells of the cervix.

Dr Sonia Nityanand, director, Lohia Institute said marriage at an early age is an important cause of so many cases of cervical cancer. Other reasons are multiple pregnancies, irregularities in menstrual cycle , smoking and poor immunity and vaccines are necessary to keep the disease at distance.

The causative agent in 95 per cent of cervical cancers is the Human Papillomavirus transmitted through sexual contact. It has a high precedence in women between the age of 30 and 60 years and early diagnosis, vaccination is the key for its treatment.