SINGAPORE - While the human papillomavirus (HPV) which can cause cancers can be prevented by vaccination, in Singapore, only women get this protection on a regular basis.
One local group, the Alliance for Active Action Against HPV, is hoping to change this.
Launched in March, the group hopes to organise more workshops for men, with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
The aim is to raise awareness of HPV and the diseases it can cause.
"When you want to share this kind of thing, you have to talk face to face," said Mr Tan Han Sen, a volunteer with the group.
He added that it is easier for men to broach the topic with their peers. "If you ask a woman to talk to a man, the man might say 'I don't have this kind of problem.'"
Professor Roy Chan, who is president for Action for Aids and a specialist in sexually transmitted infections, said men need to be vaccinated as well.
"We cannot protect men by protecting only women," he said. "Men must also get that protection."
There are more than 100 strains of HPV, and they are often transmitted through sexual contact.
While the virus is most commonly linked to cervical cancer in women, it can also cause rare cancers such as anal and oropharyngeal cancer - a form of head and neck cancer.
Men with HPV also have a higher risk of developing cancer of the penis, which is a rare malignancy.
The number of patients with such rare cancers is small, and data is sparse.
One local study conducted this year estimated the number of oropharyngeal cancer cases at less than one per 100,000 people in Singapore annually.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
