Human papillomavirus vaccine - Protecting Our Mob
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Overview
HPV is a group of viruses. This virus can cause genital warts and sometimes cancer. You can get HPV by skin-to-skin contact during sexual activity. HPV is so common that four out of five people will have it at some time in their life and never know it.
HPV usually goes away by itself, but sometimes the virus can change the cells of the cervix from healthy to unhealthy. This is why we have women’s checkups (Pap tests) so that we can pick up unhealthy cells well before cancer develops.
It’s important to remember that most women who have HPV do not develop cervical cancer.
Aboriginal women are up to four times more likely to die from cervical cancer than other women in Australia. This is why the vaccine and women’s check ups (Pap tests) are so important.
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Human papillomavirus vaccine – Protecting Our Mob (327kb, pdf)