About: HPV, A Huge Problem, Visualized

Tackling the incidence of preventable HPV-caused oropharyngeal cancer

Promoting the HPV vaccine and preventive measures among 18- to 26-year-old MSM in Harlem, New York City

HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is the main factor (70%) causing oropharyngeal cancer. It is sexually transmitted. 10% of men and 3.6% of women are orally infected. Cancer develops years after infection.

Every year, 20,839 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer. Around 14,800 are probably caused by HPV (four-fold increase over the past decade).

Primary audience: 18-26 year-old MSM living in Harlem who are unvaccinated against HPV

Adult MSM are at elevated risk of HPV (and HIV). HPV is more than 50% prevalent in all MSM in the US.

- Men in the 18-26 age group are eligible, but undervaccinated compared to their female and adolescent counterparts.

- Harlem has a higher percentage of 18-26 year olds than the rest of Manhattan

- HPV prevalence and vaccination status in Harlem MSM are understudied

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Let's Talk About Sex

We have now gotten to the action (tactical) plan phase of this project. The action plan is when you get to take all your research, planning and objective and come up with an actionable, feasible and strategic plan for all of the communication messages, materials, activities, channels and so on that you would like to use on the key audiences for your communications program. For our communications program HPVAX we are looking to build awareness and increase the number of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Harlem to get the HPV vaccines and have protected sex to diminish the spread of HPV and oral cancers. One of the key secondary groups we want to target with our program are sexual partners. Sexual partners are such an important group to target for this program as they have such an influence on the primary group- 18–26-year-old MSM in Harlem. Research shows that MSM perceptions of condom use are primarily shaped by social norms and their interactions with sexual partners. If sexual partn...

Incorporating Pharmacists into the HPVAX Action Plan

Throughout the course of this project, my group and I have discovered that local pharmacists can play an important role in HPV vaccine uptake among harder to reach community members. Compared to primary care providers, pharmacists tend to be more accessible, have extended hours, and walk-in options. Pharmacies are typically situated more conveniently in communities that major health centers, as well. Additionally, Gov. Hochul recently signed legislation allowing pharmacists to administer HPV vaccines. The combination of these factors widens the opportunity for vaccination uptake among our primary audience: young adult MSM in Harlem. In the action plan, we honed in on how to best raise awareness among pharmacists about the need for increased vaccination among MSM in Harlem. One tactic we came up with is called "Data Bites: A Lunch & Learn Series." This monthly series will allow local pharmacists and physicians to get to know one another and disc...

Budgeting for Evaluation: A Critical Step in the Process

In addition to working on the budget for tactics for our communication plan I was also responsible for working on the budget for evaluation. Budgeting for evaluation may not be the most exciting portion of this project but it is incredibly vital to long-term success. Evaluation is critical to see if our communication plan made a difference and reached the goals we set out to achieve. This is especially valuable to show funders and project partner. Evaluation helps you determine if your project was successful and if it is evaluation data can be useful for attracting more funding sources for future endeavors. Evaluation is especially important for our group’s topic because the reason we were drawn to the topic of HPV-related cancers in men who have sex with men aged 18-26 because very little has been done before on this topic in this population. We need to evaluate the success of our program in order to understand what messages and tactics are effective with our different gr...

HPVAX

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