AWACIO

SAVE OUR GIRLS

Yes, Save Our Girls! (SOG). This can affect you! This can knock at your door! This can be next door to you! You need to get involved! Here we go…

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Cervical Cancer is the number two (2) killer disease among women in the world, after breast cancer. It is caused by a virus called Human papillomaviruses (HPVs). HPV are a group of more than 200 related viruses, more than 40 of which can be easily spread through direct sexual contact, from the skin and mucous membranes of infected people to the skin and mucous membranes of their partners. They can be spread by vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Virtually all cases of cervical cancer are caused by HPV, and just two HPV types, 16 and 18, are responsible for about 70% of all cases.

Anyone who has ever been sexually active (that is, engaged in skin-to-skin sexual conduct, including vaginal, anal, or oral sex) can get HPV. HPV is easily passed between partners through sexual contact and are more likely in those who have many sex partners or have sex with someone who has had many partners. Because the infection is so common, most people get HPV infections shortly after becoming sexually active for the first time. A person who has had only one partner can get HPV.

Incidentally, Nigeria with its population of 50.33 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer, is the worst hit in Africa. Current estimates indicate that every year, 14, 089 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 8, 240 die from the disease- approximately 26 women die on a daily basis. About 3.5% of women in the general population are estimated to harbor cervical HPV-16/18 infection at a given time, and 66.9% of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to HPVs 16 or 18.

Fortunately, cervical cancer can be prevented and this is the goal of Aids for Women, adolescents and Children International Organization (AWACIO). Through the Save-Our-Girls (SOG) movement, AWACIO believes that the death rate can be reduced drastically through the administration of these HPV Vaccines. Considering that most girls become sexually active very early especially in Nigeria, the push is to be able to get these vaccines across to girls as young as 13 years, before they become sexually active. AWACIO is currently working with International Pharmaceutical Companies to get these vaccines into Nigeria to distribute them to young women for free.

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