The Western Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), is set to vaccinate more than 148,000 young girls against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) in the region.

The vaccination exercise, scheduled for Tuesday, October 7 to Sunday, October 12, 2025, would target young girls between nine and 14 years.

The Western Regional Deputy Director for Public Health, Dr Gifty Amugi, told journalists at a media engagement in Takoradi, that the HPV infection was common in teenage girls, and the second leading cause of cancer, particularly cervical cancer and its related deaths in women.

She said the risk factor of HPV was sexual activities, hence, the need to vaccinate young girls before their first sexual intercourse to protect them from contacting the virus.

“We are undertaking this exercise from October 7 and the main objective is to prevent cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions caused by HPV in young girls aged nine to 14,” she said.

Dr Amugi stated that as part of the vaccination strategies, health professionals would target in-school and out-of-school girls through outreaches, camping, visit to churches, mosques, and other vantage points to administer a single dose to them.

She, therefore, encouraged parents to avail their young girls to take the vaccines, saying they were safe, and would help provide effective protection against cervical cancer.

“Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer in women in Ghana, and it is preventable through HPV vaccination.

“The HPV vaccine is most effective if administered before adolescents are sexually active, so we are encouraging parents to avail their young girls to take up the vaccine because it is safe and given free of charge,” Dr Amugi stated.

She continued: “All HPV vaccines have been carefully studied by medical and scientific experts and are very effective and safe”.

“WHO is continually reviewing the scientific evidence on the safety of HPV vaccines, and to date, they have not identified any safety issues and has been used by other countries for the past 20 years and also in Ghana, during the pilots.”