Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during the interim budget presentation on Thursday, proposed to further boost the government's efforts to ramp up the vaccination of young girls to prevent cervical cancer. The development follows a month after the Health Ministry said it is closely monitoring the incidence of cervical cancer in the country. But how prevalent is this form of cancer? Around 75,000 women in India die each year of cervical cancer. How important is it to have an extensive Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign targeting girls in the 9-14 age group? Why is this age group important? How can one prevent this form of cancer? What causes it?
