• Target Audience

• Communication Specialists

• Program Implementers

Description
The purpose of this document is to provide an overarching road map, along with resources, to support communication program planners in the development of communication strategies and action plans for promoting HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer. A well planned and executed communication campaign/intervention is very important in the promotion of HPV vaccination because of the challenges encountered by low and middle-income countries. The challenges include competing health care priorities, insufficient financial resources, weak health systems, and limited numbers of trained providers, which has limited the average coverage of the HPV vaccine to about 70% in countries that have introduced the vaccine. Poor access and lack of information about the HPV vaccine and treatment services had led to fewer people being motivated to undergo screening and access relevant treatment. This has contributed to the more than 266,000 women dying annually from cervical cancer; and more than 85 percent of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries.