A cartoon promoting prevention and control of cervical cancer has been viewed millions of times since they were posted online.

The “Cervical Cancer and Its Enemies” series is in five parts around two to three minutes each which cover risks, prevention, early signs, diagnosis and treatment, the Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital of Fudan University said on Thursday.

“The first section went online on Monday, since when the short video has been viewed 14.66 million times, causing heated discussion about the disease,” said the hospital’s Dr Hua Keqin, who is Dr Hua in the cartoon. “We never expected people to be so interested in the cartoon and raise questions online to discuss the disease. It’s great that public awareness of the disease has been aroused.”

Cervical cancer is one of commonest cancers in the world. There are 528,000 new cases every year and 266,000 related deaths, 85 percent of which take place in developing countries.

China has around 130,000 new cases each year, a quarter of the world total. Incidence and mortality have risen in China in the past two decades with the rise greater in rural areas. The average age for woman having cervical cancer has dropped by five years since 2009. More migrant women are found to have cervical cancer, the hospital said.

“Cervical cancer is a preventable and treatable disease. Infection of the human papillomavirus (HPV) is the major cause, while having sex before the age of 16 and having multiple sex partners are also risk factors,” Hua said. “Being vaccinated, having regular screening and visiting doctors in time after symptoms appear are all effective measures of prevention and control.

“Health education is very useful for the control of cervical cancer, while there is lack of interesting and easy to understand information. So we teamed up with professional companies to work on the cartoons to give accurate knowledge about the disease that wouldn’t be boring,” she said.

An English version is planned, hospital officials said.

Dr Huaand HPV virus in the cartoon