HPV Stories

Q: What inspired the NOMAN is an Island Campaign to come into existence ten years ago?

NOMAN was created to increase awareness about HPV and its connection to men. But the story begins with a woman.

One thing they learned, however, troubled them. Although HPV affects both males and females, the former were being left out of the solution. HPV vaccination programs being introduced around the world at that time focused almost exclusively on girls (since cervical cancer is the most prevalent HPV cancer). That just didn’t seem logical if our collective goal is to end the cancers caused by HPV. . If the virus is gender neutral, prevention should be as well. Securing gender neutral HPV vaccination programs would be central to their advocacy efforts in order to defeat all HPV cancers.

Q: How many endurance sport events does NOMAN undertake each year?

Our core events entail two or three cycling events per year, and our Row to End HPV ocean rowing event every other year. NOMAN has also been involved in Ride London and the London Marathon in the UK. Individuals also approach us with their own crowdfunding sporting challenges to support our programs. We brief participants about HPV, provide fundraising toolkits and branded apparel - essentially, we give our NOMEN all the tools they need to talk about this disease and how we can prevent it with their networks.

Gender neutral HPV vaccination is the greatest means we have at our disposal to prevent HPV cancers. In the UK, immunization against HPV has cut rates of cervical cancer by nearly 90%! That’s massive, now think what’s possible in terms of all HPV cancers. Since we only screen for one of the six cancers caused by the virus, these vaccines are the only way we can prevent the other five. Let’s repeat that - we have cancer preventing vaccines. Once people learn this, they tell friends, family, and fellow parents.

The other core ingredient that our supporters love is our ambition to become obsolete. People like the idea that we want this problem to be solved. If we achieve our goal – that all children are protected against these preventable cancers – we will close NOMAN down tomorrow. Often, we have people approaching us asking how they can help. They are inspired by our events and the commitment shown by our participants. There’s lots of wonderful causes to support; by creating something different we are cutting through in a highly competitive fundraising and communications landscape.

Q: Can you tell us more about how influencing public policy works in practice?

NOMAN co-founded the successful advocacy efforts to include boys in HPV vaccination programs in the USA and UK.

Influencing public policy doesn’t happen overnight. In the UK, boys were initially excluded from even accessing the vaccine and it took five years of concerted effort through the coalition we co-founded, HPV Action, to secure gender-neutral HPV vaccination. Patience and perseverance are necessary. In terms of some of the key aspects of the campaign:

• We had a clear and specific goal: Jabs for the boys. Every action we considered we could then reference back to this goal. If it was a step towards it, we would take it.
• We built alliances – support from other organizations and individuals is invaluable. Over 50 organizations joined HPV Action in the UK.
• We based our campaign on credible evidence not assertion, but also harnessed the powerful testimonies of those with lived experience of HPV cancers and the idea of equality. We also aligned this with existing health policies to demonstrate wider benefits of the policy change.
• We made the financial case for action - Many politicians and policymakers are influenced by proposals that potentially reduce healthcare costs.
• We engaged politicians from across the spectrum, including the governing party. Politicians have a unique public platform to inform about critical healthcare issues.
• We sought and secured media coverage. This can be a way of recruiting further support, especially from the general public, and of exerting greater pressure on policymakers.

It is easy to get swept up in details and arguments, but at the end of the day at NOMAN we center on these truths: Nearly everyone will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. HPV cancers cause suffering in both males and females. We have a solution – there is a safe, effective vaccine to prevent HPV cancers. We can prevent 5% of all cancers by vaccinating both girls and boys against HPV.