Review of Cervical Cancer Prevention Week 2012

Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (CCPW) – 22-28 January 2012 is a European awareness week that aims to raise awareness of cervical cancer and ways to prevent it. As the UK’s only charity dedicated to supporting women with cervical cancer, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust coordinated the following during CCPW 2012:

• Launched a UK wide campaign to highlight cervical cancer prevention in 277 Bars, Clubs, Motorway Stations and Shopping Malls. The campaign features posters and tear-off slips in washrooms that has a potential footfall of 16 million. Lauren Goodger of The Only Way is Essex fame, is fronting the campaign to help spread awareness among her fans.
• Announced the results of research on screening for women aged 50+. Results of a recent YouGov survey commissioned by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust showed that nearly one in three of the women questioned failed to realise that cervical screening was a necessary health test for all women. In the poll for women over 50 to 70, 31% did not consider the test necessary for all women with that figure more than doubling (67%) amongst those who had never attended screening. Read more here.
  • Helen Worth who plays Gail McIntyre in Coronation Street joined Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust in urging older women to attend their screening appointment. Read more here.
• Updated MPs on cervical cancer prevention at a reception in the House of Commons on 25th January.
  The reception was well attended and gave us an opportunity to speak to MPs on recently identified barriers to achieving improvements in cervical screening rates and that as a result targets in the new cancer strategy could be missed. Our thanks are extended to Dan Jarvis MP who hosted the event. Read our press release about the reception here.
• Hosted an awareness event for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities – On the 26th January we jointly ran an event with the NHS Cervical Screening Programme looking at challenges to screening uptake amongst BME Communities. The meeting provided an opportunity to update attendees on current data about challenges to improving screening uptake amongst BME groups and also offered an opportunity to discuss how best to take it forward and share best practice. This was the first of its kind to be held and we hope there will be more in the future.
• Raised awareness – during the week, the charity and our supporters participated in a range of media stories from TV to radio to newspapers, online articles, and glossy magazines. These include: The Telegraph, Gransnet, Yahoo Lifestyle, Heart 96.6, Staff Nurse, Mature Times and CWU. See our website for more news stories.
• Launched a Facebook app called ‘Pass the message on’ aimed at women who have been invited for screening and girls who have had the HPV vaccine. The app provides an opportunity for women to pass on the message of prevention to their friends and family.
• Raising funds to support our valuable work. We had a number of fundraising events organised by our supporters across the country and in the office we organised a collection at Holborn tube station. We had a team of volunteers who collected for us at the station from 7 am to 8 pm. We raised an amazing £2304! Thank you to our volunteers who raised vital funds and awareness throughout the week.
• Held a comedy event called WRITE ON! in collaboration with Funny Women and Women In Journalism.
  The event featured Helen Lederer, now back on our small screens in the new series of Ab Fab, award winning Muslim comic Shazia Mirza, journalist and comic Viv Groskop, and Jackie Clune. The event also showcases some of the best ever talent from the Funny Women Awards with 2011 winner Lara A King, 2006 winner Suzy Bennett and 2005 finalist Rosie Wilby. Susan Calman compared the event. Thank you to everyone who made this such a special event.
• Distributed over 26,000 information materials to health practices, hospitals, pharmacists, individuals and companies to promote cervical cancer prevention.

You can see photos from the week on our Flickr account.

Our supporters across the UK have taken information materials and held events to further ensure the message of prevention is spread far and wide. Thank you to everyone that helped us raise awareness and donated their time and money to support our work during the CCPW. You are helping us save lives.