The Ministry of Health and Populations said that 20,000 doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine have arrived in the country. The vaccine doses were purchased by the government and will be administered to girls between 11 and 13 years of age. Two doses of the vaccine are administered in a period of six months.

“We have preserved the vaccine doses at the central store in Kathmandu,” said Dr Surendra Chaurasia, chief of the Logistic Management Section at the Family Welfare Division of the Department of Health Services. “Once the health ministry decides where to launch the campaign, vaccine doses will be rolled out.”

Officials at the Family Welfare Division said that they have proposed to launch an HPV vaccination drive in seven sparsely populated districts, including Manang, Mustang and Ramechhap.

“We have sent a proposal to the health ministry for consent to launch a vaccination drive in only the seven sparsely populated districts as we purchased very limited doses of the vaccine,” said Dr Abhiyan Gautam, chief of the Immunisation Section at the Family Welfare Division. “We hope that the ministry will approve the proposal at the earliest.”

Human papillomavirus is a viral infection that spreads through skin contact. The virus causes cervical cancer, which is the second-most common cancer in the developing world and a major cause of deaths among Nepali women. It is estimated that hundreds of women get diagnosed with cervical cancer every year in Nepal.

According to the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur, more than 700 women suffering from cervical cancer seek treatment at the hospital every year.

Experts say early treatment prevents up to 80 percent of cervical cancer.

The government provides free screening for cervical cancer at state-run health facilities across the country.

The World Health Organisation says HPV vaccination is recommended as part of a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases caused by the HPV.

In 2019, the Ministry of Health and Population had allocated Rs77.7 million to introduce the vaccine—Rs27.5 million to the Immunisation Section at the Family Welfare Division and Rs50 million to the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur.

The hospital purchased 12,500 doses of the vaccine spending around Rs4,000 per dose while the government’s logistics management division failed to procure the doses on time, leading to a freezing of its budget.

More than 6,000 girls from Chitwan were inoculated with the vaccine at the time.

HPV vaccination also figures in the government’s policy and programme for the fiscal year 2021-2022 but the budget was not allocated accordingly.

Doctors say most cervical cancers are associated with the HPV, a sexually-transmitted infection. Widespread immunisation with the HPV vaccine could reduce the impact of cervical cancer and other cancers caused by the HPV worldwide.

Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives have introduced HPV vaccines nationwide, while India and Indonesia have introduced them in some districts.

In 2016, Nepal piloted an HPV vaccination drive in Chitwan and Kaski districts. All girls aged between 11 and 13 years were inoculated with two doses of the vaccine at the time.

Nepal has also requested the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) to provide the HPV vaccines for free so that it could be included on the regular immunisation list.

The World Health Organisation says HPV is responsible for over 70 percent of cervical cancer cases in women. Countries that have included the HPV vaccine in their regular immunisation list have successfully reduced cervical cancer cases in women, according to doctors.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry officials said that COVAX facility, the United Nations-backed international vaccine sharing scheme, has supplied 100,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine doses.

“We received 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine on 29 June,” said Chaurasia. “Even if the infection rate of the coronavirus has declined, we have continued the vaccination.”

Several hospitals in Kathmandu are currently providing Covid-19 vaccines.