Mampotseng Letuka, village health worker

Maseru ‒ Mampotseng Letuka, a mother of eight from Koali village in Berea district within the north of Lesotho, has spent her existence advancing the health of her community. For 16 years, she has followed up on HIV and TB cases to verify other folks adhere to their therapy and supported the health wants of the ladies and teenagers in her village. For the past couple of years, she has been an recommend for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects adolescent women and young women against the virus that causes most cervical cancers..

“We were made conscious of cervical most cancers for reasonably some time. We knew it’s a unhealthy disease for ladies. Happily, there hasn’t been any reported case in our village.” says Letuka. “Nonetheless, a girl in a discontinuance-by village is currently present process therapy. She has been the utilization of her medicine and he or she’s doing neatly.”

Letuka says she has made it her “absolute responsibility” to sensitize women between the ages of 9 and 14 referring to the advantages of HPV vaccination. She visits households, explaining the hazards of the disease and urging oldsters to present protection to their daughters by getting them vaccinated when they are eligible. Following her persuasion, most oldsters agreed, and brought their daughters to the village sq. for vaccination.

Attributable to collaborative efforts between Lesotho’s Ministry of Health, World Health Group, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, over 139 000 women in Lesotho between the ages of 9 and 14 were vaccinated against HPV since the launch of the most modern marketing campaign in 2022. Cervical most cancers seriously impacts women in Lesotho, with an estimated 541 women diagnosed and 362 deaths once a year. 

The 93% national protection obtained over the last HPV vaccination marketing campaign exceeds the preliminary 90% target and surpasses the 91% performed in a old marketing campaign that became once interrupted which capacity that of monetary constraints. These vaccination efforts are half of an unbelievable system to achieving the targets of WHO’s global technique for the elimination of cervical most cancers by 2030. 

As for Letuka, she is “satisfied” to envision this going down. “I’m so satisfied to envision the fruits of my labour – getting as many women vaccinated as I can. I feel so satisfied and satisfied seeing so a range of them obtain the HPV vaccine,” she says.