Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad, March 4 || Gujarat has set a target of vaccinating 5.50 lakh adolescent girls against cervical cancer under a statewide Human Papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation campaign launched from Ahmedabad, following the national roll-out announced last week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the nationwide drive on February 28 in Rajasthan.
The Gujarat leg of the campaign was formally launched at Sola Civil Hospital by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in the presence of Health Minister Praful Pansheriya.
Health officials said the campaign is aimed at protecting 14-year-old girls from cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer among Indian women and accounts for around 17.7 per cent of cases.
National data indicate that one woman in India is diagnosed with cervical cancer every four minutes and 12 seconds, and one dies from the disease every seven minutes.
Nearly 70 to 75 per cent of patients are diagnosed at the second or third stage, and the disease remains a leading cause of death among women aged 30 to 69 years.
In 2022, India recorded an estimated 1,27,526 new cases and 79,906 deaths linked to cervical cancer. Gujarat reported 4,928 new cases and 1,781 deaths during the same period.
Experts at the Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI) said concerns and misinformation surrounding the HPV vaccine are unfounded.