Several challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic have frustrated plans to roll out a vaccination programme aimed at eliminating cervical cancer causing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for girls aged 12, The New Times can exclusively reveal.

Rwanda was the first African country to roll out free HPV Vaccination for girls and screening for women back in 2011.

Speaking to The New Times in a telephone interview, the Director of the Vaccination Programme at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), Hassan Sibomana, said that although most vaccination routines have continued as expected countrywide, some, like HPV faced some serious setbacks.

"For instance, HPV vaccinations are usually done in schools. Last year, just before we started vaccinations, there was a lockdown, so we suspended the plan. In June the same year, we gave the first dose but it didn’t go well because reaching all these girls when they are not in school can be challenging,” he said.

Challenging times

Sibomana said that when the schools re-opened, the programme continued but suddenly halted in Kigali when the government ordered another lockdown that resulted in the closure of schools, which remain closed.

"In Kigali, the first phase doses were administered when the children were not at school so the reach was very low. Unfortunately, unlike their counterparts upcountry, we were not even able to roll out the second phase doses for the few who had had a chance in the first round,” he said.

Cervical cancer leading

Last week, the Director of Cancer Diseases Unit at RBC, Marc Hagenimana, said that the number of people who have contracted cancer since 2015 has more than doubled, rising from 2,115 cases to 5,040 in 2019.

Official statistics indicate that the number of people that reported to health facilities with cancer were 634 in 2007, 999 in 2011 and 2,933 in 2018.

Hagenimana said that the numbers have been rising steadily owing to improved awareness and better health information systems that led to increased screening.

"Of course besides that, there is also an increase in the number of cancer types which could be a result of many unhealthy lifestyles, risk factors around the food we eat, failure to incorporate exercise in our daily routines, addiction to technology and many others,” he said.

The latest statistics indicate that cervical cancer is still leading, infecting 759 women in 2019, followed by breast cancer which affected 713.

As in most African countries, Hagenimana explained that cervical cancer is still leading in Rwanda due to different factors including how easy it is to contract, high levels of HIV and lack of prior screening services among other factors.

"The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is transmitted through sexual intercourse and in the past, protected sex was not common. In Africa, we had challenges putting in place preventive measures. Most people battling cervical cancer are mostly older because they did not get a chance to be vaccinated,” he said.

Currently, the government is mobilising $13 million (approximately Rwf12bn) to conduct screening sessions for women aged 30-49 for cervical cancer during the next five years.

He explained that the funds would not only be used to raise community awareness but also to screen 70 per cent of the 1.4 million women in all health facilities.

So far, the government and its partners have mobilised $2m.