The Federal Government, in collaboration with development partners and other stakeholders, will soon launch an initiative called Partnership to Eliminate Cervical Cancer in Nigeria (PECCIN).
PECCIN is an initiative of the National Task Force on Cervical Cancer Elimination (NTF-CCE) established to accelerate the implementation of WHO’s 90-70-90 targets in Nigeria.
It aims to catalyze multi-sectoral action for preventing, screening, and treating cervical cancer through sustained coordination, resource mobilization, and service delivery scaleup
The launch of the initiative, which is slated for Tuesday, 3rd of June, 2025 will be flagged off by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
The First Lady had earlier graciously reaffirmed her commitment to the fight against cervical cancer through a generous donation of one billion naira to the task force from the Renewed Hope Initiative.
The Chairman of the National Task Force on Cervical Cancer Elimination (NTF-CCE) and former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the objectives of PECCIN
is to drive sub-national govt —led coordinated expansion of cervical cancer elimination activities, and foster multisectoral coordination and collaboration.
PECCIN members are drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, World Health Organisation (WHO), National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), NHIA, NPHCDA, Clinton Health Alliance Initiative (CHAI), Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN)and the the Gates Foundation.
According to him, 60 million women in Nigeria are at risk of developing cervical cancer and that approximately 22 women die daily from this preventable and treatable disease in the country.
He further stated that in 2020, WHO launched the cervical cancer elimination initiative — the first global commitment to eliminate a cancer and has set a target date of 2030 – The strategy is based on three pillars of 90-70-90: – Primary prevention through HPV vaccination and Secondary prevention through early screening And access to early Cancer treatment.”
The NT F-CCE, the former minister said, was established in August 2024 by the Federal Ministry of Health end Social Welfare, to lead Nigeria’s national response on cervical cancer.
NTF-CCE’s mandate is to accelerate Nigeria’ progress towards achieving the WHO Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy 90:70:90 targets by 2030, focusing on vaccinating 90% of girls aged 9 to 14 against HPV, screening 70% of eligible women far pre-cancerous lesions, and ensuring 90% of women with cervical! disease receive appropriate treatment,” Prof Adewole said.
He added that by 2027, the task force aims to vaccinate 50% of eligible girls, and screen 5O% of women while strengthening health systems to ensure effective treatment for all detected cases.
For effectiveness, the task force comprises ten specialised subcommittees for comprehensive programme oversight.
As evidence of national commitment to the protection of women and girls from the pangs of this ravaging scourge, Nigeria, through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency NPHCDA, has vaccinated over 13 million girls against the disease. This was achieved with the active collaboration of partners, such as WHO, GAVI and UNICEF.
In a related development on the global scene, Nigeria is noted to have led the proposal which resulted in the approval at the recent World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva to mark November 17 every year as the World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.
This is to promote consciousness and action against cervical cancer around the world.
