The Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) has launched an HPV Vaccination drive across India to vaccinate girls and women against cervical cancer.
Addressing presspersons in Dharwad on Tuesday, FPAI national president Ratnamala Desai said that after breast cancer, cervical cancer accounts for the second largest number of cases among women aged between 15 and 44. And, over 12 lakh women in India suffer from cervical cancer, while 77,000 women die of the disease every year.
Dr. Desai said that although it is a preventable disease, awareness about it has been alarmingly low in the country, despite high percentage of the affected.