Osun State Government is set to give over one million children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years free Vitamin A supplementation and vaccination too
Under the same programme, the government is also giving Human Papilloma Virus, HPV vaccination to girls between the ages of 9 and 14 years to protect them against cervical cancer.
The State Commissioner for Health, Jola Akintola announced this while flagging off Maternal, Newborn and Child Health week in Osogbo, the state capital.
Akintola who represented the State Governor at the event, emphasized the importance of the initiative in improving maternal and child health, stressing the need to raise awareness on the HPV vaccination, its benefits, and correct any misinformation people may have had about it.
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Also speaking, some health experts said in order to promote the advantages of HPV vaccine and debunk the misconceptions, efforts must be directed towards greater knowledge, especially at the grassroots level.
According to them, HPV vaccines work by stimulating the body’s immune system to produce antibodies that can guarantee protection against HPV infection.
(Editor: Okechukwu Eze)
