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According to America’s Health Rankings, Kansas ranks 22nd for HPV vaccinations, with 64.3% of adolescents ages 13-17 receiving all recommended doses of the HPV vaccine. The Kansas Cancer Partnership recently hosted "HPV Education for Greek Life" at Emporia State University (ESU). Located in rural Emporia, Kansas, ESU has a student population of nearly 6,000. This presentation attracted 104 members from the Greek Life community and provided an engaging overview of HPV and the HPV cancers the vaccination can prevent. Following the presentation, a nurse from the ESU Student Health Department set appointments for the HPV vaccine series for interested students. An evaluation showed that many attendees had received the full vaccine series or at least one dose. It also showed that students had heard of HPV but didn’t know what HPV was or that the virus could cause cancer. According to the evaluation, the presentation was well received by the students, and most would recommend the HPV vaccine to others. The Kansas Cancer Partnership hopes to expand the program to other Kansas colleges and universities to educate more students on the HPV vaccine and its importance.

We invite guest contributors to share information on how they are working to improve HPV vaccination in rural areas. If you are interested in contributing or learning more about our efforts to improve HPV vaccination with rural communities, please email us at PreventHPV@stjude.org.

"Our ‘HPV Education for Greek Life’ program at Emporia State University could not have gone better! We are excited to expand this program to reach other colleges/universities in the state of Kansas." — Ashley Adorante, MS, CHES, Outreach Coordinator, Masonic Cancer Alliance