Modupeoluwa Olalere
Ondo State Governor Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa urged all state stakeholders to participate in the ongoing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign on Wednesday, May 22, 2025, to prevent infection that could lead to cervical cancer in teenage girls. This statement was made at the official launch of the Oya Campaign on HPV Vaccination and Adolescent Nutrition in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, where he said 321,008 girls aged nine to fourteen years have already been vaccinated, implying 94% coverage.
The Special Adviser on Health Matters, Prof. Simi Odimayo, represented the governor at the event. The campaign is in collaboration with the Nongovernmental Organization Girl Effect. The Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (OSPHCDA) facilitated the Oya Campaign.
The governor expressed that the Oya Campaign had been on the ground since May 27, 2024, with education being the primary contributor. The achievements are twofold, including the vaccination drive and good nutrition among adolescent girls.
The governor’s message was one of urgency and teamwork: “I am delighted to be here for the official launch of the Oya Campaign, brought to life by Girl Effect. This initiative boosts the Human Papillomavirus vaccine uptake and encourages good nutrition for adolescent girls in Ondo State.
“ This was a significant step in ensuring the health of our young girls.”
Governor Aiyedatiwa revealed that the campaign’s success was a team effort, stating, “This milestone achievement is a clear demonstration of the team efforts of our selfless health workers together with government agencies and development partners as well as the parents and guardians’ support across the state.”
He, however, articulated that much remains to be done under the campaign, stating, “The launch of the Oya Campaign marks a new phase in our efforts not only to sustain but enhance the gains we have made. Nutrition will be amidst the ongoing phases of this campaign, ensuring that some aspects of comprehensive health knowledge are provided to their girls who will grow with it.”
“Oya” stands for an urging of action by all stakeholders, be they parents, teachers, community leaders, or health workers, to combine their forces in the campaign and ensure that every eligible girl is duly vaccinated and schooled in nutrition.
Dr. Boladale Akin-Kolapo, Country Director of Girl Effect, revealed the NGO’s importance to the campaign’s success. With the support of development partners, such as Gavi, the vaccine alliance, and a partnership with the Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Agency, the Oya Campaign is not just about vaccinations but a health intervention.
“At Girl Effect, we believe that when a girl is healthy, informed, when she is confident in her voice and her choices, when she is completely transformed, she is a catalyst for change not just for her future but for her family, community, and nation,” Dr. Akin-Kolapo said.
“We intend to raise awareness, generate demand, and promote HPV vaccination among girls aged 9 to 14 while at the same time including nutrition education as a component of overall adolescent wellness.”
“The word Oya is not just a name; it is an action word. Action for our girls calls for them to rise and stand up for their futures. A call for parents, caregivers, teachers, and leaders to rise and stand alongside them. And a call for all of us as leaders and the people to rise and act because there is no health without God’s health.”
Girl Effect has exceptionally educated girls through media and technology while mobilising parents, teachers, and local leaders. This has helped address vaccine reluctance in Ondo by building trust and a safe venue for open discourse.
In certain other parts of Nigeria, they are still having difficulty achieving the 4% coverage of the HPV vaccine compared to Ondo State’s 94% vaccination rate. While a myriad of factors are contributing to this low uptake of the HPV vaccine in these regions, some key issues are misinformation, cultural resistance, limited healthcare facilities, and general unawareness.
The northern states are the leaders in vaccine hesitancy, especially in Kano and Kaduna. The parents we spoke with were worried about vaccine safety, feared that vaccination could lead to promiscuity, experienced doubts instilled by social media influencers, and some parents even said that they had never heard of HPV or the vaccine. There is a significant lack of information.
Healthcare workers in these areas are often challenged by limited training and a lack of confidence in advocating for the vaccine. In addition, logistical issues such as poor supply chain management and insufficient cold chain management make vaccination even more difficult.
Experts attribute Ondo’s success to its collaborative design and community engagement strategy. Ondo established credibility and public trust by working with trusted local leaders, employing transparent communications, and providing nutrition education.
To effectively scale the Oya Campaign in Northern Nigeria, it is imperative to be culturally sensitive and leverage community structures. Using traditional and religious leaders as advocates will help undermine resistance. It is crucial to build messages that represent local concerns and dispel myths.
Girl Effect has been instrumental in supporting Ondo’s HPV vaccination campaign, which was undertaken through the Oya Campaign. The volunteer-based Oya Campaign is an innovative approach that leverages vaccination promotion to educate adolescent girls on nutrition. Gavi and the Ondo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency are the key institutional supporters of this campaign, which is community-focused and ring-fenced in nature.
Here are some of the concise examples of Oya Campaign strategies:
Stakeholder Engagement – Girl Effect brings together parents and teachers with religious and traditional leaders to provide support for vaccination acceptance.
Information and Empowerment – The Oya Campaign conducted educational sessions that empowered girls with HPV prevention strategies and nutritional information to make decisions about their health. Oya Campaign uses radio jingles, community centers, digital platforms, and community gatherings to reassure people to correct the information and misinformation.
This strategy highlights health’s all-encompassing nature and considers the social aspects of vaccination acceptance.
While it may be possible to implement the Oya campaign model in northern Nigeria, it will need to focus on any changes to the strategy model. There are greater cultural and religious factors against the campaign in the north, lower levels of knowledge, and challenges with the infrastructure. The likelihood of acceptance will be highest when engaging current community structures, like Ward Development Committees and religious leaders.
Girl Effect’s past activities in other African countries show that community engagement and customized messaging can contribute to large-scale uptake of the HPV vaccine, even in challenging contexts. The Oya model can be scaled into the northern states with sufficient resources and culturally responsive approaches.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women in Nigeria, with approximately 12,000 new cases and nearly 8,000 deaths each year. The good news is that the HPV vaccine can prevent more than 90% of cervical cancer cases by protecting against high-risk strains of HPV.
Suppose Nigeria achieves and maintains high vaccination rates of HPVs across the country, like the 94% achievement in Ondo or our national average of 71%, there will be significant reductions in cases of cervical cancer within a decade. The World Health Organization is aiming for 90% coverage of girls with the HPV vaccine by 15 years of age to eliminate public health cervical cancer as a health concern.
With the delivery of vaccination programmes throughout the country, up to 10,000 new cases and 7,000 deaths could be prevented each year. However, this must be coordinated with screening and treatment programmes to maximize the effect. We must increase our vaccination programme to avoid risking increased burden of cervical cancer, and consequently overburdening our healthcare system and causing increased needless death.
The Oya Campaign is taking an innovative approach, combining education about adolescent nutrition with HPV vaccination because health interventions must address the multifaceted factors that affect health.
Good nutrition bolsters someone’s immune system and increases the vaccine’s effectiveness, just as it lowers the likelihood of infections. However, across many communities in Nigeria, malnutrition is common, harmfully reduces immunity, and may impact vaccination success.
The Oya Campaign educates girls about nutrition while getting the vaccine to promote a holistic approach to adolescent health. It also equips girls with the necessary skills for better health.
Policymakers are beginning to adopt more integrated approaches that bridge vaccination with nutrition and sexual health education. However, confronting social determinants of health problems like poverty, educational inequities, and underutilization of healthcare services still presents serious challenges.
Investment in various areas is needed to close the health gap and advance adolescent health throughout the country. For example, the Oya Campaign in Ondo State is currently leading Nigeria’s HPV vaccination campaign for teens. In addition to managing non-vaccinating youth, we must manage misinformation, remove barriers to entry to the vaccines in areas where vaccination has not been as robust, and grow the integrated health goodwill across the country to impact change in cervical cancer.
