Ordos city in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region recently started a free vaccination program to inoculate citizens against the human papilloma virus, becoming the first city in China to do so.

It is offering free HPV vaccinations for all girls between 13 and 18 years of age with local household registry. The goal is to help prevent cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer, which can be caused by HPV, is one of the most common tumor diseases for women in China and it has a high fatality rate.

According to the policy, girls will be offered three-valent HPV vaccines at appointed medical institutions and only need to pay for the cost of vaccine transportation, storage and disposal.

Wang Shuyun, director of the department of maternal and child health of the Ordos health commission, said that the launch of the free HPV vaccination program in Ordos has enabled women to realize the necessity and feasibility of cervical cancer prevention through popular science.

It's an important measure to improve the health of women in the city in an all-round way.

As one of the areas in China where cervical cancer screening and prevention were carried out early, Ordos took the lead in launching the health campaign in its Juungar Banner in 2020, aiming to provide HPV vaccinations for female students aged 13-18 for free. 

Currently, among the nearly 10,000 13- to 18-year-old girls in Juungar Banner, around 85 percent have been vaccinated against HPV.