Write a public service announcement designed to overcome the hesitation of many individuals and families to get their children vaccinated against HPV.

Assignment Question

HBMS 505 2023 Assignment 4: Public Information Campaign to Reinforce the Need for HPV Vaccination BACKGROUND INFO “The first human cell line, HeLa, was developed at Johns Hopkins from a cervical tumor excised from Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) (see The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot published by Crown Books (ISBN 978-1-4000-5217-2)). Eva Peron (1919-1952), the subject of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita, also died of cervical cancer. In the early 1950s there were no effective treatments for cervical cancer, and both these women died very young because the disease is very aggressive. The American Cancer Society’s estimates about 12,820 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 4,210 women will die from cervical cancer. The median age at death is now 57. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cervical-cancer/causes-risks-prevention/prevention.html also, the CDC website is useful https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/?s_cid=PN-NCIRD-Teen-AW-CancerPrevention- HPV_Prevention-6 Human papilloma viruses, particularly HPV 16 and HPV 18, are responsible for ~75% of the cases of cervical cancer. These viruses are sexually transmitted, and infections are largely preventable. The difficulties in generating acceptance of the need for the vaccine and the “buy-in” among the public has made it difficult to implement an effective public health program to prevent the disease.

INSTRUCTIONS Write a public service announcement designed to overcome the hesitation of many individuals and families to get their children vaccinated against HPV. Outline the biology the HPV virus (focusing HPV 16 and 18), including the nature of the virus and the pathology of the disease in women AND men. Explain why comprehensive, early, vaccination is necessary to protect women and men from HPV-related cancers, and why vaccination of young boys is essential to eliminate cervical cancer. Develop a message to diminish the concerns over vaccination in general and the inappropriate association of HPV infections with sexual activity in young children. Make sure you make a compelling case for vaccination.

Your PSA should be developed as a short slide presentation in PowerPoint. NO MORE THAN 10 slides. Do not write an essay in PowerPoint, use figures and bullet points to transmit your message. You can use animations as needed. An additional slide should be used to list the references and Web resources (this is not normally required for a PSA). It’s recommended that you take some time to consider:

1. Your audience. If you decide to develop your PSA to address a minority community whose first language is not English, write the PSA in that language.

2. What message(s) do you need to present to increase the participation rate?

3. What fears need to be alleviated.

4. How should the information be presented?