
2. First Ladies of Nigeria in the quest of eliminating cervical cancer.
Nigeria has one of the highest numbers for cervical cancer in the world. In 2018 alone, they reported over 15,000 cases and over 10,000 deaths from this disease. However, these cases deal with poor awareness mixed with a flawed healthcare system. They lacks a screening policy and accurate diagnostic tools that are so important to lower mortality. So in August of 2020, 194 countries took a stand against cervical cancer and committed to eliminating it. The First Ladies of Nigeria is an organization that serves as advocacy to increase awareness, access to cancer care and influence policy direction in Nigeria to reduce the cases in the country. They are calling into action to eliminate cervical cancer by the end of 2030.

The First Ladies call other countries to get on the same path for cervical cancer elimination with some targets in mind to achieve it by 2030. In the objectives, they have vaccinating 90% of girls younger than 15 years old with the HPV vaccine. Also, 70% of women screened twice in their lifetime, using a high-performance test. Furthermore, having 90% of the women identified with cervical cancer receive the treatment. Even if it’s a very ambitious objective, the First Ladies of Nigeria are committed to their mission. Even with the dismal healthcare delivery and production rate of the vaccines, they aim to change that. These ladies wish to get rid of this disease once and for all.