Whereas, Although cancer of the cervix is a disease that can be prevented, treated, and cured, 358 Michigan women were diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer in 2004, and in 2005, 123 Michigan women died of cervical cancer; and,

Whereas, Regular screening through the use of Pap tests is the key to preventing deaths from cervical cancer; and,

Whereas, Women under age 40 may obtain Pap testing through their health care provider, at family planning clinics available through local health departments, or at Planned Parenthood of Michigan affiliates located around the state; and,

Whereas, Michigan public health agencies, health care providers, and hospitals statewide who work with the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program cooperated to offer cervical cancer screening and followup services for low-income women under the age of 65, and as a result, have screened nearly 115,000 women, and have diagnosed and treated over 2,700 women with cervical cancer since 1991, while also offering all women a resource for information and referral through the Michigan Health Promotion Hotline at 1-800-922-6266; and,

Whereas, The Michigan Cancer Consortium recommends that all women who have reached the age of 21 or who have been sexually active for three years should obtain a pap test every year and for women over the age of 30 and after three consecutive normal exams, the pap test may be performed every two years; and,

Whereas, While infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease, is the most important risk factor for cervical cancer, the FDA has recently approved a vaccine, administered in a series of three injections that prevents  two strains of HPV that are responsible for 70 percent of all cervical cancers, and is recommended for females age 9-26; and,

Whereas, Education can help inform the public of methods of early detection and prevention, such as efforts underway by the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, the Michigan Cancer Consortium and its members; and now therefore be it,

Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of the State of Michigan, do hereby proclaim January 2008, as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in Michigan.