Cervical cancer is the most common cancer amongst women in India, accounting for over 134,000 new cases and more than 74,000 deaths annually. The identification of most common HPV types as etiological risk factors for cervical cancer has led to the development of prophylactic vaccines against specific sets of HPV genotypes as preventive strategy against the disease. It is anticipated that HPV vaccines in India would become a preferred method of primary prevention of cervical cancer supplementing the population-based screening programmes which several states in the country have already started.

A One-day Symposium on “HPV Vaccine and Cervical Cancer Prevention” for health care experts and policy makers from Northeastern (NE) states was held at Mayfair Gangtok, Sikkim on July 5, 2014. It was attended by representatives from the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and several high-ranking healthcare officials from Govt. of Sikkim. The meeting was organized under the aegis of Cancer Foundation of India (CFI), Kolkata.