Beyond cervical cancer: 5 diseases the HPV vaccine can actually prevent

Ask most people what the HPV vaccine is for, and the answer will almost always be the same: cervical cancer. It is not a wrong answer — but it is an incomplete one, and doctors say this narrow understanding is quietly costing lives. Human papillomavirus is not a women's health issue confined to one organ. It is a common virus that moves silently between people, and its consequences reach far wider than most patients, and even some clinicians in general conversation, tend to acknowledge.

The vaccine was introduced under the banner of cervical cancer prevention, and understandably so — it remains the most visible and most studied benefit, a practising physician explains. But that framing has, in some ways, boxed the vaccine into a single narrative. Parents of sons often assume it isn't relevant to them. That assumption is simply incorrect.

Here is what the conversation usually leaves out.

1. Oropharyngeal (throat) cancers

HPV is now recognised as a leading cause of cancers at the back of the throat, tonsils and base of the tongue — and in several countries, these cases in men have overtaken cervical cancer cases in women. Unlike cervical cancer, there is no routine screening test for throat cancer, which makes prevention through vaccination considerably more valuable, not less.

2. Anal cancer

Anal cancer linked to HPV affects both men and women, though certain groups carry a disproportionately higher risk. It is rarely discussed openly, largely due to stigma rather than rarity, and doctors argue that this silence is precisely why awareness campaigns tend to skip over it.

3. Penile cancer

A less common but genuinely preventable disease, penile cancer is strongly associated with HPV infection. Its omission from most public vaccine messaging reinforces the myth that HPV vaccination is a "female" intervention, when the virus itself makes no such distinction.

4. Vulvar and vaginal cancers

These cancers receive comparatively little attention, overshadowed entirely by their more widely publicised cervical counterpart. Yet a substantial proportion of cases are directly attributable to HPV, and are equally preventable through timely vaccination.

5. Genital warts

Not life-threatening, but far from trivial. Genital warts caused by HPV can be persistent, distressing and costly to treat, and they affect a meaningful share of sexually active adults. Doctors note that this is often the first, and sometimes only, tangible benefit patients notice after vaccination programmes take hold in a population.

The consultant is careful to add a note of nuance here: not every strain of HPV causes cancer, and not every case of cancer at these sites is HPV-related. "The vaccine isn't a blanket shield against all disease at these locations — it targets specific high-risk strains. But those strains do the overwhelming share of the damage, which is exactly why prevention matters so much."

What ties all five conditions together, doctors stress, is timing. The vaccine works best when given before exposure to the virus — typically recommended for adolescents of any gender, well before the onset of sexual activity — though catch-up vaccination remains worthwhile for many young adults.

Perhaps the most persistent myth of all is that HPV vaccination is a women's health decision. It isn't. It is a shared, preventable-disease conversation that concerns sons as much as daughters, and one that deserves to be had earlier, more openly, and with considerably more accuracy than it currently is.

The author is the Director - Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Director Academics - Robotic Gynaecology, CK Birla Hospital, Gurgaon.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.