Calls for HPV strategy to include men, after ‘frightening’ report

The HPV vaccine has been available here to boys since 2019 and to girls since 2010, but there is a 'cohort where we need to know what to do about them'. 

Strategies to tackle HPV should include men and teenage boys, an Irish advocate has urged following new international research indicating high rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) among men.

While HPV is more commonly associated with cervical cancer, it can also less commonly cause cancer of the penis, throat, and anus. It is transmitted through sexual contact and can affect anyone.

Kim Hanly, founder of support network Cervical Cancer Awareness Ireland, said in her experience men are often not aware that HPV can affect them directly, as well as potentially infecting a partner.

'Understanding not there'

“It’s misinformation or misunderstanding,” she said. “I’ve seen it way too many times to count, even the whole understanding of what HPV is and that it can affect men is not there. 

"That needs to be highlighted more. If that became a talking point, people would realise, ‘oh wait, it’s not just women, it can actually affect me'.” 

She called for strategies at State level to take into account research published last week, describing the findings as “frightening”.

A large-scale worldwide study, published in the Lancet Global Health journal, found almost one in three men over the age of 15 is infected with at least one genital HPV and one in five is infected with one or more high-risk HPV types.

“This is the barrier you have; how do you get young men, who are not vaccinated in school and not aware of what HPV is and what it can cause, to information so they are actually going to read it and digest it,” said Ms Hanly. 

“That’s the real question here, how do you do that?”

She highlighted the growing movement of male sports stars discussing their mental health publicly and using sports media to share a serious health message. She suggested a similar movement could work for HPV awareness also. 

Ms Hanly is involved with a number of national campaigns, including a HPV vaccine catch-up campaign, and she said there is a huge amount of work behind each development.

“It’s great to see how much has been done over the last number of years,” she said. 

But this report just shows while we are making great strides in a lot of aspects, there is this cohort where we need to know what to do about them.” 

The World Health Organization said the study, 'Global and regional estimates of genital human papillomavirus prevalence among men: a systematic review and meta-analysis', shows the importance of including men in efforts to tackle HPV. 

In Ireland, the HPV vaccine has been available to boys since September 2019 and to girls since 2010.

The catch-up programme, named in honour of advocate Laura Brennan who died at the age of 26 with cervical cancer, offers young people who may have missed the vaccine the chance to catch up now.