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The Importance of Considering Existing Resources and Unmet Communication Needs

For this project I’ve done a lot of research into existing programs and resources related to HPV related oropharyngeal cancer in men who have sex with men and it has really opened my eyes to how largely ignored this issue has been. While it was easy to find resources and programs aimed at preventing cervical cancer in women it took a lot of digging to find resources and programs specific to men. In the end I was really only able to find programs, coalitions and resources aimed at HPV-related cancer prevention more broadly. I was excited to see how many great coalitions and projects are currently working to prevent HPV-related cancers in both men and women such as, NYSDOH’s Cancer Prevention in Action, New York State HPV Coalition, and Mission: HPV Cancer Free. Additionally, many of the resources I found called attention to oropharyngeal cancer increasing among men and being the most prevalent HPV-related cancer among men. 

However, it was still difficult to find resources that called attention to how men who have sex with men have particularly high rates of HPV-related cancer even though that is evident in many research studies we found. At most the resources included this population in one sentence of the entire resource as is the case with The HPV Vaccine: The Red Light to Cancer Toolkit for Pharmacists from University of Pittsburgh. This shows unfortunately how low of a priority men who have sex with men have been in the fight against HPV-related cancers nationally.

I think my difficulty in finding programs and resources specific to our population illustrates just how important our project is. Our work is shining a light on the fact that although men who have sex with men are at risk of contracting HPV and therefore at risk for HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, very little has been done within the medical and public health fields to promote prevention and vaccination within this community. There are very clear unmet communication needs to raise awareness for the susceptibility and severity of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer within our target population: men who have sex with men in the 18-26 year old age range. 

Additionally, one of our secondary audiences is providers because while this group will be vital to improving HPV prevention efforts in our project, according to our research health care providers also have unmet communication needs related to understanding the risk level of our target population. As Maya discussed in their previous blog post, Dr. Richman told us that doctors don’t always think of men as an at-risk group for HPV and related cancers because HPV has previously been considered more of an issue for women’s health. We think this is a key perception to change via communication efforts in order to increase the likelihood that providers in Harlem will talk to their patients in our target group about the importance of vaccination and prevention efforts. While providers are only one secondary audience to consider when addressing HPV-related cancers in our target group, it is pivotal that our project fulfills the unmet communication needs among providers because they are one of the main groups of professionals with the power to provide clinical knowledge and vaccinations to their patients in order to prevent HPV.

- Holly

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