Rwanda’s commitment to ending cervical cancer ‘remains firm’

The Rwandan High Commission in the United Kingdom has reiterated the country’s commitment to eliminate cervical cancer. Joseph Kabakeza, the first counsellor at the Rwandan High Commission, shared the insight during an event that was recently held at the Commonwealth headquarters. Kabakeza joined Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland, the UK Government's Commonwealth Envoy Jo Lomas, and virtually the First Lady of the Bahamas Ann Marie Davis, as well as cancer survivors. The event titled ‘The Road to 2025 - Achieving Elimination of Cervical Cancer in the Commonwealth’ built on the Cervical Cancer Elimination event on the sidelines of CHOGM2022, hosted by First Lady Jeanette Kagame, that brought together First Ladies, cancer survivors, international health organisations and members of the International Taskforce on Cervical Cancer Elimination in the Commonwealth. Kabakeza said Rwanda was committed to eliminating cervical cancer in a short period of time. “Reaching this necessary milestone is, of course important, but our overarching priority is to ensure quality and equitable healthcare access for women, stop preventable illness and deaths, and, crucially, learn from one another’s examples, both our successes and failures,” he said. “In 2011, we were humbled to become the first African country to introduce a national HPV vaccination campaign for all girls between the ages of 11 and 15, and coverage now stands at over 90%.” He stressed the role played by the introduction of HPV DNA testing into the cervical cancer screening programme at primary health care level. “To ensure all women identified with invasive cervical cancer get the treatment they need, the treatment services are being strengthened with establishment of radiotherapy services and in-country training of gyne-oncologists to provide quality management to patients,” Kabakeza said. To ensure financial accessibility of the services to women, Kabakeza added that diagnosis and treatment services have been included in the benefit package of services for our community health insurance, and supported by community health workers countrywide who raise awareness of the disease. “Through these and through education in schools, we have helped to dispel misinformation about the vaccine and the disease in general.” The Commonwealth countries have a commitment to ensure all girls between 9-13 have access to immunity from Human Papillomavirus (HPV) through vaccination by 2025.

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Rwanda’s commitment to ending cervical cancer ‘remains firm’