- Target Audience
Communication Specialists
Program Implementers
Description
The purpose of this document is to provide an overarching
road map, along with resources, to support Demand Promotion
program planners in the development of Demand Promotion
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.