Secondary school students have designed a new HPV awareness campaign to help pupils understand why the vaccine is important for their long-term health.
Year 8 pupils, community groups from across the city, and the vaccine provider IntraHealth worked together to launch a campaign aiming to increase the uptake of the HPV vaccination in adolescents.
After pupils from different schools around Salford took part in a design competition, a winning poster leading the campaign has been revealed.
“Inspired by anime’s vibrant character illustration style, the pupil’s concept and message capture a slice-of-life and highlight that HPV can affect anyone, and that getting vaccinated is an important step in staying healthy. This helps ensure the message is clear, relevant, and relatable to young people,” organisers said, describing the winning submission.
Salford currently has one of the lowest HPV vaccination rates in Greater Manchester. Between 2024 and 2025, uptake was 53% for girls and 49.3% for boys, which is far below the national target of 90% vaccination by 2040.
The vaccine helps protect against human papillomavirus (HPV) and is recommended for children aged 12 to 13 who are at higher risk. HPV is an extremely common, highly infectious virus spread through skin-to-skin contact and predominantly through sexual activity.
99.8% of cervical cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus virus (HPV). NHS England has the ambition to eradicate cervical cancer by 2040 by increasing the uptake of the HPV vaccination in adolescents.
Councillor John Merry, Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing, said: “Every young person in Salford deserves the chance to grow up healthy and well. HPV vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect them from cervical cancer and other cancers later in life. We launched this pilot because uptake among our Year 8 pupils is still too low and below the 90% needed to protect the wider community.
“This work also supports NHS England’s ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040, which I fully support. We are committed to raising awareness and improving access so families can make confident, informed decisions.”
More information about the plan to eradicate cervical cancer is avalilable on the NHS England website.
