October 2023: Zambia conducted a countrywide multi-age cohort campaign against HPV

Zambia conducted a countrywide multi-age cohort campaign against HPV September 25-30, aiming to vaccinate 1.42 million girls ages 9 to 14. The campaign—which took place in schools, health facilities and mobile vaccination centers—aimed to increase coverage rates: according to UNICEF, only 73% of girls ages 14 and 15 received at least one HPV dose between 2019 and 2022, and less than half of eligible girls received a second dose. The country records over 3,000 new cervical cancer cases annually, per UNICEF, of which an estimated 1,900 result in deaths in the same interval. UNICEF; Gavi