In July 2025,

Nigeria witnessed a pivotal advancement in its national response to cervical cancer, as Professor Imran Morhason-Bello, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Project Director HPV Consortium at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, led the commissioning of a state-of-the-art mobile cancer screening clinic, an HPV Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, and a Multidisciplinary Research Hub in Ibadan, Oyo State. This integrated initiative, driven by the HPV Consortium and supported by a broad coalition of public institutions and community stakeholders, exemplifies the efficacy of inter-institutional engagement and multisectoral collaboration in delivering accessible, evidence-based health services to the populations who need them most.

The pilot phase of the mobile screening clinic will serve four local government areas, Ibadan North, Ibadan North West, Kajola, and Iseyin, with the goal of reaching over 60,000 individuals. This model is a decisive step toward addressing the inequalities that have long hindered access to cancer prevention services in underserved regions. By transitioning cervical cancer screening and early treatment from centralised, facility-based models to mobile, decentralised service delivery, the initiative reduces key logistical, financial, and cultural barriers. Women who may never have had access to a Pap smear or HPV test are now able to self-sample in privacy, receive a diagnosis, and begin treatment, all within a single visit, within their own communities.

This approach exemplifies the health systems strengthening required to meet both global and national goals. It aligns with the World Health Organization’s 90-70-90 targets to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health concern by 2030, which call for 90% of girls vaccinated with HPV vaccine by age 15, 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by ages 35 and 45, and 90% of women with cervical disease receiving effective treatment. While Nigeria’s 2023 introduction of HPV vaccination into its national immunisation schedule marked significant progress toward the first target, initiatives such as this mobile clinic now provide the infrastructure to deliver on the remaining two pillars, screening and treatment, with impact, scale, and precision.

The mobile unit’s integrated offerings, including screening for breast cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and on-site HPV DNA testing, constitute a high-value public health intervention. Its multidisciplinary research hub will generate critical implementation data to inform national scale-up and health financing decisions. Furthermore, its patient navigation framework ensures that positive cases are not lost in the continuum of care, but rather are tracked and supported through follow-up, diagnosis, and treatment.

As Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, I commend Professor Morhason-Bello’s leadership and his long-standing advocacy for policy reform, public education, and equitable access to cancer prevention across sub-Saharan Africa. His recent publications have emphasised the urgency of addressing the region’s disproportionate burden of HPV-related cancers and the need to localise innovation in ways that are culturally acceptable, clinically effective, and contextually sustainable.

The WBFA recognises the strategic value of such community-based models. They not only decentralise service delivery but also uphold the principles of rights-based care. Indeed, the initiative’s emphasis on community leadership, traditional ruler engagement, and inclusion of cancer survivors in its launch speaks to a broader, more inclusive vision of health system transformation.

It is also encouraging to see the breadth of institutional support behind the initiative, from the Federal Ministry of Health and Oyo State Government, to University College Hospital, the University of Ibadan, and academic collaborators such as the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Northwestern University. The HPV Consortium’s ability to mobilise diverse partners, including philanthropic contributors such as the John R. Flanagan Foundation, highlights the importance of collaborative leadership in tackling entrenched health challenges.

This mobile clinic represents a replicable and scalable model, one that aligns closely with Nigeria’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the broader African Union commitment to women’s health and health equity. It bridges the gap between policy and practice, between infrastructure and impact, between research and reach.

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa applauds this patient navigation-based shift in cancer prevention from a centralised model to one that is locally responsive, inclusive, and population-focused, delivering care where it is needed most and advancing Nigeria’s path toward universal health coverage.

Let this strategic achievement in Ibadan serve as both an inspiration and a blueprint for the future, a future in which no woman in Nigeria, or anywhere, dies from a preventable cancer.

H.E. Mrs Toyin Ojora Saraki
Founder-President, The Wellbeing Foundation Africa