The Get A-Head Charitable Trust has become the latest UK charity to announce its support for a worldwide campaign to eliminate HPV-related cancers.
The Birmingham-founded charity, which works to improve quality of life outcomes for people with head and neck disease across England and Wales, is supporting the End HPV Global campaign.
It has endorsed the campaign’s call for gender-neutral HPV vaccination (GNV) programme’s to be introduced on a global scale by 2030 and has pledged to support this through its research, education and patient support programmes.
Charity director Danni Heath said: “As a charity focused on reducing rates of head and neck cancer and ensuring earlier diagnosis, joining the End HPV Global campaign and more specifically the call for GNV, aligns perfectly with our charity vision. HPV-related cancers are a growing concern in our field, and we’re committed to supporting prevention and awareness efforts wherever possible.”
The call for GNV is being led by Global Action on Men’s Health and NOMAN is an Island.
It brings together organisations worldwide and aims to persuade policymakers to better understand HPV and the potential for GNV programmes to eliminate high-risk cancers. It also calls for boys to be made the primary target for vaccination programmes and for all countries to have introduced a GNV programme by 2030.
The commitment from Get A-Head comes as the charity implements its 2025 strategy to tackle the growing crisis in head and neck cancers – the fourth most common type of cancer in the UK for men and the eighth most common overall. Cases are increasing by 3% each year, with a significant impact on working-age populations.
Danni added: “Through our research, education programmes and partnership approach, we will work to support the campaign’s objectives while continuing our vital work to improve outcomes for people affected by head and neck disease.”
Get A-Head’s support for the End HPV Global campaign will form part of its broader education and awareness work, which includes designing and delivering campaigns to prevent and reduce the risk of head and neck cancers occurring and raising awareness of symptoms to reduce late-stage diagnosis.
