[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.340]this is the Health Report.
[00:05.320]Zambia has one of the highest rates of
[00:09.300]cervical cancer in the world,
[00:12.590]90 of every 100,000 Zambian women
[00:17.080]get the preventable disease.
[00:20.210]The Zambian government recently
[00:22.760]launched a program to vaccinate school girls
[00:26.490]against the Human Papilloma Virus - HPV.
[00:32.130]The virus is known to cause cervical cancer.
[00:36.650]HPV can spread through sexual contact.
[00:41.740]The government hopes to vaccinate school girls
[00:45.020]between the ages of 9 - 11 against HPV.
[00:50.750]The program was launched in May at several schools.
[00:55.180]One of them is the Kalingalinga Primary School in Lusaka,
[01:02.510]about 100 students there received the HPV vaccine.
[01:09.100]Euphrasia Mweshi Mutale is a teacher,
[01:12.530]she was involved in efforts to inform the community
[01:16.870]about what was expected to be a sensitive subject.
[01:21.400]Miss Mutale is happy with the earlier results.
[01:25.490]She says people involved in the program
[01:28.130]met with parents and teachers to tell them
[01:32.460]why it is good to vaccinate the girls.
[01:36.640]She knows there have been no immediate reported
[01:40.120]side effects from the vaccine,
[01:42.820]like high body temperature or skin discoloration.
[01:47.650]Mulindi Mwanahamuntu is the director of
[01:52.180]the Cervical Cancer Prevention Program in Zambia.
[01:56.660]He says health officials want to
[01:59.540]vaccinate 25,000 girls as part of the of program,
[02:05.430]but he says there was some resistance
[02:09.160]from churches and other groups.
[02:12.490]"The very fact that it is given to the pre-sexual years
[02:17.020]it would indicate to others that we are permitting children
[02:22.600]therefore to go out and have sex."
[02:27.580]Zambian and international health officials
[02:31.210]are working to break the resistance
[02:34.450]by educating communities in different ways.
[02:39.130]Dr. Pelum-Hazeley is with the United Nations.
[02:44.320]She starts in a local radio program called Celebrating Life.
[02:50.840]Her program aims to educate listeners on medical issues,
[02:57.220]so they can make the right decisions for their children.
[03:02.310]"We just have to continue educating the people
[03:05.440]because if someone has had a complication,
[03:09.770]and of course there are reasons why there are complications.
[03:12.060]It does not necessarily mean the same thing is going to happen here."
[03:15.200]The World Health Organization rates Zambia third
[03:19.840]on its list of highest death rates from cervical cancer.
[03:25.010]The country also has the highest cervical cancer rate in Africa.
[03:32.720]And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English.