CANCER victim Jade Goody has backed a Stockport campaign to offer teenage girls free beauty treatments to encourage them to get a vaccination that can help prevent cervical cancer.

Proposals include offering girls free manicures and pedicures in a bid to get them vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) - which is known to increase the risk of cervical cancer.

The plans come in the wake of revelations that Jade’s cancer is now terminal. And the former Big Brother star is fully behind the proposed campaign, set to be launched by NHS Stockport.

"I am really encouraged and happy to hear about the initiative in Stockport," said Jade, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in August. Anything that shows girls are getting the message about advanced screening and the HPV vaccination is definitely a good thing."

Girls aged 12 and 13 are already offered the HPV vaccine at school, and while the programme has had good results, a top public health expert at NHS Stockport admits it is proving difficult to reach girls over the age of 17 who are no longer in full-time education.

Dr David Baxter, consultant in communicable disease control, said: "The vaccination can prevent around 70 percent of the viruses that cause cervical cancer. I don’t know the details of Jade Goody’s case but it is possible that if she had received the vaccine it could have prevented her cancer. 

"We have tried writing to girls who are missing out on the vaccine but it doesn’t seem to work. We have also tried texting and ringing but we still can’t reach everyone, so we have been talking to a college in Stockport to see if their beauty therapists would be interested in giving manicures and pedicures to girls who receive the vaccination."

He added: "We need to think of other initiatives to get them to come in."

More than 3,000 woman are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the UK every year and there are more than 100 different types of HPV, which is passed from one person to another through sexual contact. The HPV vaccination involves undergoing a course of three injections over six months, and is available free on the NHS.