HPV: The landscape going forward

It has been a landmark year for the health of British boys.

The decision announced by health ministers in England, Wales and Scotland to extend the HPV vaccination programme to include adolescent boys is very welcome and will lead to greater protection for hundreds of thousands of boys.

It is a truly watershed moment which gives us reason to believe that the next few years are going to be a lot more positive for the landscape of our fight against HPV.

To ensure the successful implantation of the vaccination, the Oral Health Foundation has identified two key issues.

Effective and swift strategy

It’s clear that boys and men are in urgent need of a vaccination against HPV. We are still yet to see Northern Ireland align with the rest of the home nations in signalling their intention to extend their own national programme to include schoolboys.

This does not change the need for swift and effective implementation across UK government. Every year of delay puts a further 400,000 boys at risk of HPV-related diseases. Because of this, we are calling for a roll-out date of no later than September 2019.

We shall be working with government and campaigners to ensure this happens.

Playing catch-up

The decision to vaccinate school boys in the UK was six years in the making. During this time, nearly three million boys have slipped through the net.

While our attention needs to be on successfully implementation of the vaccination programme to boys aged 12-to-13, we cannot fail to address those who remain unvaccinated as the JCVI dithered in their decision-making.

We can begin to repair the damage done by a dangerously discriminatory and unfair programme in Britain by offering a catch-up programme to boys up to the age of 18. At this point it is worth remembering that back in 2008, when the girls’ programme was launched, a catch-up programme was also introduced to ensure as many girls benefited from the vaccination as possible. It would be simply unfair if boys were refused the opportunity to benefit from a similar initiative.

We have made significant strides to address the sharp rise in HPV-related mouth cancer cases, but more work certainly needs to be done to bring about an impact akin to the pleasing reduction we have seen in cases of HPV-caused cervical cancers in the nation’s young women. Together, through more tireless campaigning and lobbying, we can bring about change that will benefit Britain’s health and wellbeing for generations to come.