A campaign to eradicate a cancer that kills two women in the UK everyday has won the backing of Toby Perkins MP. 

Toby is supporting Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, by encouraging women in Chesterfield to attend their cervical screening when invited, and by supporting the efforts of the HPV immunisation programme.  

Cervical screening coverage in Derbyshire is 78% meaning that more than a fifth of women in the county do not attend their screening when invited. 

Toby said: “It’s really exciting that we have the opportunity to essentially eliminate a cancer. Cervical screening and HPV vaccines can both help prevent cervical cancer, and I would encourage everyone who can to make use of these amazing cancer prevention tools. 

He added: “I am fully supportive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust’s work, and will continue to endorse the excellent campaigns they are leading on to fight cancer and save lives’. 

In its latest report, the UK’s leading cervical cancer charity found that only 17% of health professionals working across cervical cancer prevention think enough is currently being done to eliminate cervical cancer in the UK. Only 20% think enough is being done to ensure high levels of HPV vaccine uptake, and just 16% believe that enough is being done to support cervical screening uptake.