{"id":23459,"date":"2026-02-08T08:21:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T06:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-urged-to-expand-hpv-vaccination-as-cervical-cancer-cases-rise\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:15","slug":"sa-urged-to-expand-hpv-vaccination-as-cervical-cancer-cases-rise","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-urged-to-expand-hpv-vaccination-as-cervical-cancer-cases-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"SA urged to expand HPV vaccination as cervical cancer cases rise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Merck &amp; Dohme (MSD) South Africa (SA) has raised alarm over the country\u2019s high cervical cancer burden, with around 12 000 cases diagnosed annually and more than 60% resulting in death.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>MSD emphasises that HPV vaccination remains the most effective preventive measure and is calling for expanded access for older women, particularly those living with HIV.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Zwelethu Bashman, director at MSD SA, stressed that education and awareness are crucial to strengthen prevention efforts. \u201cCervical cancer is preventable and treatable if detected early,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Currently, school-based HPV vaccination programmes target girls aged 9 to 14, but MSD is urging the National Department of Health to implement strategies allowing women beyond this age group to also receive the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23460,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-23459","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Merck & Dohme (MSD) South Africa (SA) has raised alarm over the country\u2019s high cervical cancer burden","published_date":"2026-02-08 09:30:51","news_description":"Merck & Dohme (MSD) South Africa (SA) has raised alarm over the country\u2019s high cervical cancer burden","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26419,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23459\/revisions\/26419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}