A Fiji Womens organisation is urging girls to have free vaccinations against cervical cancer.
Next month about 37 000 girls in Fiji aged between nine and twelve will be eligible for the Gardasil vaccination, after the manufacturer donated the drug.
It is effective against two strains of the human papillomarvirus, and against another two strains that cause genital warts, both of which can lead to cancer.
The Fiji's Womens Right Movement director, Virisila Buadromo, says mothers and their daughters should learn about the vaccine.
"If girls are getting vaccinated in early age, there could be a whole generation of young girls that don't have to suffer cervical cancer at a later stage in their live. So I think it's an excellent initiative and I hope that people will take it on board and see it as a pro-active approach rather than having to deal with the problem once it becomes full-blown, which seems to be the issue right now."
Virisila Buadromo
Cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in Fiji, with between 100 and 200 women suffering from it each year.
