Stakeholders across the health sector have called for urgent and coordinated investment in prevention, equitable access to the HPV vaccine, and harmonised health data to accelerate efforts to eliminate cervical cancer across Africa.
The call was made on Wednesday during a panel session themed “Accelerating Cervical Cancer Elimination in Nigeria: From Policy to Practice.”
Dr. Fidele Ngabo Gaga, Head of the Division for Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health at Africa CDC, said the Centre is working to harmonise and aggregate health data across all 55 African Union (AU) Member States.
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“We are developing a continent-wide data-sharing agreement and centralised repository to support data upstreaming and policy development.
“The goal is to present unified data at AU Summits, helping countries make evidence-based decisions,” Gaga said:
Prof. Imran Morhason-Bello, a leading gynaecologic oncologist from the University College Hospital, Ibadan, made a compelling financial case for prioritising prevention over treatment.
“Screening just between 2023 and 2027 will cost Nigeria N351 billion.
“But treating 10,000 women with invasive cervical cancer from 2027 to 2030 could cost us N1.4 trillion. Prevention is not only more humane, it is far more cost-effective,” he said.
Morhason-Bello also addressed innovations such as self-sampling for HPV testing, already being implemented in Nigeria through implementation science.
“Women receive a self-sampling kit, return it the same day, and positive results are treated before noon.
“It is happening in markets and schools. It is not a pilot, it is real.
“We have even developed a mobile app (available in multiple languages and offline) to guide women through the self-sampling process, increasing accessibility in low-resource settings,” he said.
Ms Vuyo Mjekula, External Affairs Director for MSD, Sub-Saharan Africa, addressed one of the most common myths around the HPV vaccine rollout.
“Let me be clear, there is no shortage of HPV vaccines. If anyone tells you otherwise, call me directly. The real issue is equity and strategic allocation,” she said.
Mjekula recalled early proposals that included boys in HPV vaccination efforts, but warned that without careful planning, some countries would be left out entirely.
She called for one national policy that ensures equitable access to vaccines and services, especially for the most vulnerable girls.
“This is not about science alone. A dose costing N125,000 may be affordable to some, but to a woman in a rural village, it is like N10 million.
“If she must choose between survival and feeding her children, the answer is obvious,” she said.
She applauded Nigeria’s progress, noting that since the national rollout, the number of vaccinated girls across the continent has more than doubled, driven primarily by Nigeria’s leadership.
Mjekula also made an appeal for multi-sectoral collaboration, urging the involvement of private sector giants, from banks to telecoms and philanthropic foundations.
“Health is not just the government’s responsibility. We need to imagine beyond the healthcare we can afford with public funds and work toward the healthcare we want as a society,” she said.
She also called for a business case for investment in HPV prevention and cancer control, saying the task force must work hand-in-hand with all stakeholders.
“Let us go far together. If you want to go quickly, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together,” she said.
The reports said that the symposium concluded with a call to integrate cancer screening into primary health care services.
It also called for the deployment of cost-effective technologies like self-sampling, address myths around vaccine shortages, and ensuring gender-sensitive, data-informed policies.
As Nigeria and the continent advance towards achieving the WHO 90-70-90 cervical cancer elimination targets, the message from experts was clear: “Let us do big and let us do it together”.