THE VULVAL HEALTH AWARENESS CAMPAIGN WILL CEASE TO BE A CHARITY SHORTLY. This website will remain in service.

September 2012 is officially Gynaecology Cancer Awareness Month.
VHAC has been visiting some of the websites around the world to see how many actually make a feature of vulva/vulvar cancer.  VHAC has found no focus.
One of the most widely promoted cancers of the female reproductive tract is Cervix cancer.  The information and educational literature available makes awareness of the fact that the HPV virus is responsible for cervical cancer.  There are some educational videos on the YouTube channel which give information about HPV.  The highest percentage of the videos never mention vulva/vulvar cancer being caused by HPV.

The other issue with HPV is that it causes pre-cancerous cells of the vulva, known as VIN (vulval intraepithelial neoplasia). There are over 100 strains of the HPVirus but 16 and 18 are the ones responsible for both vulval cancer and VIN.  There is absolutely no attention drawn to the women who are misdiagnosed for VIN, some of whom will have had CIN (pre-cancer cells of the cervix) and who often go on to get VIN some years later. None of the women who have contacted VHAC have been warned about VIN and the link with CIN.

VHAC would like to thank Dr Jennifer Ashton for her video on HPV and for mentioning, almost at the end of the film, that HPV can cause vulval/vulvar cancer.  VHAC thought this video was worth sharing with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjBpLeBzkng