Women without sexual experience under the age of 26 are being urged to be vaccinated against cervical cancer after a recent survey found only 4 per cent of respondents had had their daughters vaccinated amid many misconceptions about the disease in Hong Kong.
In a survey of 500 mothers of girls aged nine to 16, only 4 per cent said their daughters had been vaccinated against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), while 38 per cent said they would consider having their daughters vaccinated, according to the Family Planning Association. It conducted the interviews last October at 18 street locations around the city.
Thirty-one per cent of the respondents mistakenly thought that having multiple sex partners was the main cause of cervical cancer, while 19 and 7 per cent erroneously thought heredity reasons and poor diet were the main causes. Only 22 per cent knew that vaccination could prevent the disease.
'Despite misconceptions, all women who have ever had sex are in fact vulnerable to cervical cancer,' said Susan Fan Yun-sun, executive director of the association.
HPV infection is the main cause of cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine, introduced to Hong Kong in late 2006, can prevent 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases and rarely caused side effects, Dr Fan said. The vaccine gives the best protection when the client is still a virgin.
Even after vaccination, women should still have regular cervical smear tests, which could detect abnormal cells in the cervix before they developed into cancer, she said.