Defend Your Tomorrow
A public health campaign raising awareness of cervical cancer and how it may be preventable
Leveraging both the reach of Arsenal Football Club, and the growing popularity and influence of women’s football, the Defend Your Tomorrow campaign aims to engage communities and individuals across the UK in the interests of supporting public health.
Campaign background
Cervical cancer remains a significant public health challenge, with disparities in access to vaccination and screening services contributing to preventable cases and deaths. Almost all cervical cancer cases could be prevented, through vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical screening, and early treatment of detected cell changes[1]. Still, an estimated 3,300 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the UK a year – nine women every day – and there are around 850 cervical cancer deaths. More than 95% of these cases are caused by HPV[1].
Addressing these inequalities requires collective efforts to improve awareness and education about cervical cancer. MSD has recognised the need for further investment in public awareness in order to reach communities and will bring its support and expertise through this campaign.
What does the Defend Your Tomorrow campaign hope to achieve?
Defend Your Tomorrow’s overarching ambition is to raise awareness of cervical cancer being a potentially preventable disease and signpost people to DefendYourTomorrow.co.uk to find out more.
The campaign also aims to help tackle health inequalities by focusing on specific communities in the UK with higher levels of unmet need in the NHS national vaccination programme and NHS national cervical screening programme. Through the broad and growing appeal of women’s football, and Arsenal Football Club’s longstanding heritage of community engagement, the campaign is establishing new ways to reach those who have not traditionally engaged with cervical cancer awareness and prevention messaging. While North London sits at the heart of our campaign, it will have national reach.
Looking forward
The Defend Your Tomorrow campaign will utilise both the community and national engagement of Arsenal Women’s Football Team and the growing reach of women’s football to inform and educate reach communities and cohorts – who might traditionally have proven hard to engage – about the importance of cervical cancer awareness and its possible prevention and where to get further advice.
Key campaign initiatives include:
- A panel event with policymakers at The Arsenal Hub
- Omnichannel materials featuring Arsenal Women’s Football Team players
- A matchday takeover during the Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur game on 16th February at the
Emirates Stadium
Who is involved?
MSD
MSD has initiated, developed, and funded the Defend Your Tomorrow campaign.
Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal is a proud partner of the Defend Your Tomorrow campaign to support the NHS’s ambition of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040. Working together with partners, Arsenal will raise awareness and deliver education around North London to support NHS England’s ambition of eliminating cervical cancer, with the club able to reach and connect with some of the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach parts of our community.
The Eve Appeal
The Eve Appeal is the UK’s leading gynaecological cancer charity. MSD has reimbursed The Eve Appeal for services rendered as part of the Defend Your Tomorrow campaign but has had no editorial control of The Eve Appeal’s content, including but not limited to The Eve Appeal website.
[1] Cancer Research UK, Cervical cancer statistics. Last accessed March 2025, available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/cervicalcancer
GB-NON-10949 | March 2025