 Cervical cancer was once a leading cause of cancer death for women, but January, which is recognized as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, works to raise awareness about prevention. I spoke to Public Health Director Tammy Riley on how you can help prevent cervical cancer. You know, from a public health perspective, we want to encourage women to take care of themselves, to make their health a priority, to continue, if they haven't already done so, to start having those annual wellness exams, but particularly cervical cancer is so preventable and if caught early, you know, extremely treatable, and we want women to know how to test, when to test, and what symptoms, you know, and signs and risk factors to be aware of. Make your ride one of a kind and see the experts at J&M Custom Auto and Off-Road. It is estimated over 13,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2023, with over 4,000 women dying from the disease. Some of the major risk factors for cervical cancer is smoking and particularly the HPV virus, and which makes cervical cancer preventable. You know, Public Health recommends HPV vaccines for preteens, for tweens. Most states typically recommend at the age of 11 or 12, or require that vaccine. So, it's a preventable cancer, most commonly occurs in women over the age of 21, and you know, there's a vaccine that prevents this cancer. Signs and symptoms for cervical cancer are almost non-existent until late stage. For more information, go to Pike County Health Department on Facebook. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Brianna Robinson.