By vaccinating our children, we reduce the pain and suffering experienced by a family that loses a mother or a daughter to cervical cancer. The devastation of a husband who is left widowed and the grief of children left orphaned by this disease, which can be prevented through a vaccine.

Given the nature of the vaccine, that it requires 3 vaccines over the period of 6 months, we have to operate in a closed environment which is evident from our reach reflected in the below table. Our planned activities for next year, over and above our usual activities, are to reach out to the Private Schools to promote a buddy vaccine system. This program will encourage parents to vaccinate their own daughters as well as a girl from an underprivileged school. This will help to raise awareness as well as actively reach a significantly higher number of children outside of utilising the funds we have raised which can reach additional children. When reaching the children for the vaccine, we have a holistic plan to explain how we can test for HPV as well as discuss the importance of pap smears and how you can do them at home for effective and complete protection.

There is wonderful support from the Government and we are delighted that they are vaccinating 9-year-old girls in underprivileged areas, however, there is a massive gap not being addressed, who have missed the threshold and are also hugely at risk here and now today. All girls 10 and older would still require this vaccine, and we as Dance for a Cure are continuing to address this need.

We believe that a number of initiatives could be embarked on from a social media and awareness point of view and we can encourage great participation if we allow some creative input and collaboration all around.