The Department of Health will launch the NCD cervical cancer vaccination program on March 23 and this will be rolled out to 63 primary schools in NCD.
Girls aged 9-14 years and attending grade 3-6 at a private or public primary school in NCD will be offered the vaccination free of charge.
The cervical cancer vaccination is fully endorsed by the PNG National Department of Health and the World Health Organisation.
It is part of the PNG National Health Plan and will be offered to all girls in PNG.
A consent form will be given to the girls at school to take home to be signed by a parent or guardian and returned to school before the scheduled vaccination day.
National coordinator HPV vaccination program, Dr Edward Waramin encourages girls to get immunized as cervical cancer is the only cancer that can be prevented through a vaccine.
Dr Waramin explained that most cancers of the cervix can be prevented by the cervical cancer vaccination or HPV vaccination.
HPV technical advisor Dr Julia Stinshoff added that for this vaccine to be most effective, girls should be immunized before they are likely to be exposed to HPV, which means before they are likely to have any sexual contact.
Dr Stinshoff said that the vaccination is highly effective in preventing the targeted HPV types as well as the most health problems caused by them.
She highlighted that the vaccine has been shown to be 95 to 100% effective in preventing infection from the two types of HPV (16 and 18) that can lead to 7 out of 10 cervical cancers.
The vaccine will also protect against genital warts and some cancers of the vulva, anus and mouth.