The Chinese government has approved the use of a Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, and the vaccine is expected to be available by the beginning of 2017, according to a report by Guancha.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK), a British healthcare company, made the announcement that its HPV vaccine, Cervarix, has been approved for use in Chinese mainland by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). GSK said Cervarix is registered in the Chinese mainland for use in girls and women between 9 and 25 years of age, and that the vaccine is administered in three doses.

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections worldwide. It is also the second most common cause of cancer among women between the ages of 15 and 44 in China. Official figures show that there are 130,000 new cases of HPV diagnosed in China every year, accounting for more than 28 percent of the world total. Some forms of the infection cause genital warts, but the high-risk form of the disease can lead to cervical cancer.

The price of the vaccine in Chinese mainland is expected to be lower than in Hong Kong, where it is already available. In the past, since commercial use of the vaccine wasn't approved in the mainland, many Chinese citizens travelled to Hong Kong to get vaccinated there.