The Ghana Health Service (GHS), in collaboration with the Municipal Health Directorates, has introduced the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into Ghana’s routine immunisation programme.

This was scheduled after the nationwide campaign conducted in September 2025.

Starting in January 2026, all girls aged 9-14 who did not receive the vaccine during the nationwide campaign would be vaccinated through out-of-school and school health services.

This was contained in a press statement signed by Wilhemina Duah Morttey, Municipal Director of Health Services in Tarkwa Nsuaem, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, Tarkwa.

It said the overall goal of introducing the HPV vaccine was to prevent cervical cancer, which remained one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in Ghana.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cervical cancer is the 4th most common cause of cancer in women, with around 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths in 2022.

The statement revealed that 94 per cent of these mortalities caused by cervical cancer occurred in low-and middle-income countries, including Ghana.

It further explained that there was currently only symptomatic management for cervical cancers, and the disease could be prevented through vaccination.

HPV is a viral disease which mostly affects women. It is primarily transmitted via vaginal, anal, and oral sexual contact, but it could also be passed on through the exchange of bodily fluids, such as saliva, skin-to-skin contact and kissing, which could expose one to the virus.

The statement said that because there were no symptoms, many people carried the virus without even realising they had it.