Kenya records 80 per cent increase in HPV vaccination among girls

Kenya has recorded an over 80 per cent increase in the number of adolescent girls receiving the HPV vaccine

Kenya has recorded an over 80 per cent increase in the number of adolescent girls receiving the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the first half of 2026.

This is according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, marking a significant step in the country's efforts to protect girls against cervical cancer through immunisation.

The latest WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) released on Thursday, show that UNICEF and WHO, alongside other partners supported the Ministry of Health in vaccinating 472,845 adolescent girls with at least one dose of the HPV vaccine between January and June 2026, compared with 258,698 during the same period in 2025.

 According to the report, about 69 per cent of adolescent girls in Kenya have received one dose of the HPV vaccine, reflecting continued progress in expanding access to the vaccine, which protects against the human papillomavirus that causes most cases of cervical cancer.

"Immunization is every child's right. While we celebrate the success of the expansion of HPV vaccination in Kenya, it also serves as a challenge to redouble our efforts and close the gap to reach 'zero-dose' children," said UNICEF Representative to Kenya, Dr Shaheen Nilofer.

Despite the gains in HPV vaccine uptake, the report estimates that Kenya still has about 135,000 "zero-dose" children who did not receive a single routine vaccine in 2025, a figure that has remained unchanged from the previous year.

It further shows that 88 per cent of eligible children in Kenya received the third dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) vaccine in 2025, bringing the country closer to the global target of 90 per cent coverage.

Globally, childhood immunisation continued to improve in 2025, with 90 per cent of infants, nearly 116 million children, receiving at least one dose of the DTP vaccine, while 85 per cent or about 110 million children, completed the recommended three-dose schedule.

WHO and UNICEF, however, warned that millions of children remain unprotected despite the progress made in expanding immunisation coverage. The report estimates that 13.5 million children worldwide did not receive a single vaccine dose in 2025, while another 7.3 million started vaccination but failed to complete the full DTP series.

"Every child, whether born into wealth or poverty, peace or conflict, deserves the life-giving protection that vaccines provide. Immunization is one of the most cost-effective, most equitable and most reliable interventions for protecting children's health and well-being," said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He also added that the greatest security begins with ensuring that everyone, wherever they may live, is protected from deadly diseases that vaccines have the power to prevent.

The agencies cautioned that conflict, humanitarian crises, vaccine misinformation and funding constraints continue to threaten immunisation gains, urging governments and partners to strengthen routine immunisation programmes, invest in resilient health systems and ensure that every child has access to lifesaving vaccines.