Brussels, 26/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliamentary Cervical Cancer Interest Group (CCIG) and the European Cervical Cancer Association (ECCA) launched, on Tuesday 23 January, the first European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (ECCPW) at the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels. This event aims to raise general awareness and to promote the screening and prevention of this cancer as far as possible. It was supported by French UMP representative, Françoise Grossetête, Jolanta Dickute (ALDE, Lithuania) and Glenis Willmott, a Labour member from the UK. Philippe Brunet brought them Commissioner Kyprianou's support. In Europe, some 50,000 women each year develop cervical cancer, and 25,000 women die from it. There are several possibilities of treatment today when the disease is diagnosed sufficiently early, but access to screening and treatment still varies from one state to the next. Prevention is possible through HPV vaccination against the human papillomavirus that causes this kind of cancer. Vaccination was authorised in September 2006 by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) but is not yet available throughout the Union. Reimbursement for the cost of the vaccination is not always certain but the best countries for this are, for now, Austria, Belgium and Germany.