Free cervical cancer vaccines for 12-year-old girls

The free vaccination programme against cervical cancer for 12-year-old girls in state and private schools will start within the month, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry announced that the girls will be vaccinated, free of charge, with the latest human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

The ministry said the fight against cancer was a major priority and that through the free administration of the vaccine it aimed to continue efforts to prevent and eradicate cervical cancer and other forms of cancers and diseases caused by the HPV.

Cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women worldwide after breast cancer, is also the only cancer for which a vaccine is available.

The aim is to include boys in the HPV vaccination programme in the future.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.