In a landmark move, the Punjab government has announced Pakistan’s first national cervical cancer prevention initiative aimed at protecting young girls through vaccination.
Chaired by Punjab’s Ministers for Health and Education, Khawaja Imran Nazir and Rana Sikandar Hayat, a high-level meeting finalized the details of the campaign. The drive is scheduled to begin in November and will target 8 million girls aged between 9 and 14 across the province.
The vaccination program will not be limited to government schools alone. It will also extend to private educational institutions and religious seminaries (madrasas). Dedicated teams from the health department will visit these institutions to administer the vaccine on-site.
To ensure the effective implementation and success of this critical health intervention, a joint working group will be formed to oversee and coordinate the campaign’s rollout across all sectors.
The initiative marks a major milestone in public health for Pakistan, aiming to prevent cervical cancer, which is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women globally.
