National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Each year nearly 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, but the disease can be preventable.
Since January is National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, healthcare professionals are urging women to get screened. Cervical cancer can also be prevented by the HPV vaccines which protect against the types of HPV that most commonly cause this type of cancer.
Doctors suggest children begin these routine vaccinations at age 11 or 12 since the vaccine offers the greatest health benefit to people who receive all three doses before they are exposed to HPV through sexual activity. Dr. Elaine Kao said, “This vaccine has been around for several years and we are now starting to see the effects of it on cervical cancer and head and neck cancer rates that are decreasing and so this can be a very important vaccine to get.”
All women are at risk for cervical cancer however, it most often occurs in women over the age of 30.