The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is partnering with six Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to reach girls aged 9 to 14 who are out of school as it rolls out the HPV Vaccination Campaign.

The collaboration featuring Theatre for Social Change, Curious Minds Ghana, DAWAH Academy, Muslim Women in Teaching (MUSWIT), The Light Foundation, and Meta Foundation will mobilise communities to boost vaccine uptake among girls often missed by mainstream health initiatives.

Activities will include grassroots sensitisation, outreach, and mobilisation to close the information and access gap between in-school and out-of-school girls.

Ghana now joins more than 140 countries that have integrated the HPV vaccine into routine immunisation programmes, a key step in the fight against cervical cancer, the fourth most common cancer among women globally.

Sub-Saharan Africa carries the highest burden, with over 70 per cent of cases detected at late stages, leading to poor treatment outcomes.

Speaking at the annual MUSWIT conference in Kumasi, UNICEF Social and Behaviour Change Specialist Madam Charity Nikoi stressed the need to reach out-of-school girls with the same urgency as those in school.

She urged parents and guardians to ensure eligible girls take the vaccine before exposure to the virus, noting that it is most effective at an early age.

The campaign aims to reduce cervical cancer incidence, improve women’s health outcomes, and ensure no eligible girl, whether in school or not, is left unprotected against HPV.

Meanwhile, watch the trailer to GhanaWeb’s yet-to-air documentary on teenage girls and how fish is stealing their futures below: