Cervical Cancer Prevention Week

Every day in the UK, two women and people with a cervix lose their lives to cervical cancer and nine more receive a life-changing diagnosis. We have a real opportunity to change this.

Cervical cancer is almost wholly preventable, and the government and NHS England have launched their plan to eliminate it by 2040. To get us to our goal of cervical cancer elimination, three key things are needed:

9 in 10 girls vaccinated as part of the schools’ HPV vaccination programme or catch-up programme
7 in 10 women and people with a cervix screened as part of the cervical screening programme
9 in 10 women and people with a cervix who have precancerous cell changes, or cancer, identified and treated.

Yet, HPV vaccination and cervical screening uptake is still well below what is needed to reach our goal of eliminating cervical cancer.

Our survey of over 2,000 people (YouGov) found that around 3 in 4 people said they would be willing to get a vaccination to help reduce the risk of six types of cancer if they were eligible. Yet only 1 in 2 said they would get the HPV vaccination, which does help to reduce the risk of six types of cancer.

1 IN 2

Only 1 in 2 people we surveyed were aware that cervical cancer can be caused by HPV.

AROUND
1 IN 3

Awareness was even lower for the other five cancers – around 1 in 3 were aware HPV could cause vulval and vaginal cancers.

AROUND
1 IN 5

Around 1 in 5 people were aware HPV could cause anal and penile cancers.

8 IN 100

Just 8 in 100 people are aware HPV could cause head and neck cancers.

More information

We have a lot more information on HPV, cervical screening and tips on how to make the appointment easier. You can also speak to one of our Ask Eve Nurses for free and confidential support.