Members of the NSCCP and the NPHCDA represented Nigeria at the 2023 MSD Global HPV Vaccination Education Forum held 20-21 September, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Discussions surrounding the proposed roll out of the single dose quadrivalent HPV vaccination of multi age cohort of 17 million eligible girls come October 2023 was extensively discussed. The first phase shall include 15 states and FCT while remaining states shall roll out in the first quarter of 2024. This is broad step to lead Nigeria to achieving the WHO 90-70-90 Global Elimination target for cervical cancer by 2030.

Important lessons were learned from the challenges of other African countries like Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia – and how they surmounted such challenges.

Issues regarding vaccine hesitancy, communication with vaccine hesitant parents and children, halal certification of the HPV vaccine, HPV vaccine safety, efficacy and effectiveness, burden of other HPV diseases like genital warts, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis and head and neck cancers were all discussed.