05 March 2009
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Senator Jim Perchard, will be thanking local charity, Jersey Cancer Relief, for their generous donation to fund cervical cancer vaccinations at an event on Friday 6 March 2009.
Grateful parents have been calling Jersey Cancer Relief to thank the charity for their donation since it was announced that the funds would enable older Jersey school girls to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination free of charge.
On Friday, the charity’s committee members and the Health Minister will be meeting with local parents of girls who will now be able to receive the vaccine. They will also hear from front line healthcare staff about the impact that a diagnosis of cervical cancer has upon women’s lives and will talk with doctors and nurses who run the cervical cancer screening programme.
Jersey Cancer Relief chairman, Mrs Joan Richard, said: ‘We are delighted we can offer this vaccination to older school girls in Jersey who would otherwise have missed out on this important protection. With all the media attention on cervical cancer that we have seen in recent weeks, we hope most girls who are eligible will come forward. The success of the year 8 programme run by the Health Department certainly suggests that this vaccine is being well received by parents and their daughters.’
The HPV vaccination programme provided by the Health Department to girls in school year 8 (age 12 to 13 years) began in November 2008. It has been extremely successful with 89% of eligible year 8 girls opting to have the vaccinations, which are given as a course of three injections over a period of six months. This figure compares favourably with the average uptake rate for England and Wales of 70%.
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