‘Just awful luck’ was the headline in the UK Express last month, above the story of a 62-year-old Briton diagnosed with stage three throat cancer. He had brushed it off as a tickly throat caused by dust from renovation work in his home gym.

Weeks after several doctor’s visits the diagnosis came back: HPV16, the cancer-causing strain of the human papillomavirus, contracted, his doctors believed, through oral sex with his wife. Chemotherapy, 35 rounds of radiotherapy and three months bed-bound followed.

He told reporters he had never heard of HPV. Many Jamaicans haven’t heard of it either, and that is precisely what concerns me.

Our DJs, who not many years ago treated oral sex as taboo, would have had a field day with a similar local headline. So would social media. But behind the talk is a quiet, growing health problem, and one we already have the tools to prevent.

The National Cancer Treatment Centre at St Joseph’s Hospital in Kingston treated 19 cases of oropharyngeal cancer (cancer of the tonsils and base of the mouth) between 2023 and March 2026. Over the same period it recorded two penile cancers, 23 anal cancers, and 216 cervical cancers. Every one of them is linked to HPV.

The numbers are still small relative to other malignancies but our National NCDs and Injuries Prevention Unit warns that the trend is shifting. Globally, oropharyngeal cancer accounted for an estimated 120,434 new cases in 2022. The Caribbean recorded 1,196 of those, Jamaica 23 — modest in absolute terms but climbing, and increasingly seen in younger adults.

A 2019 Jamaica Observer report, quoting internist Dr Samantha Nicholson-Spence, made the link plain: HPV is associated not only with cervical cancer but with anal, penile, and throat cancers, and the more partners and the more frequent the oral exposure, the higher the risk.

Senior medical officer at the Hope Institute, Dr Steven Alexander, has flagged Jamaican patients in their 30s presenting with HPV-driven throat cancers, and warns that these tend to be more aggressive than the smoking-related variety. As smoking declines in Jamaica, HPV-driven cancers are taking its place.

Almost all of these cancers are preventable. The HPV vaccine is, as researchers put it, cancer prevention in a single shot: safe, effective, and recommended for children from age nine, with catch-up vaccination available up to age 26 and benefits possible up to age 45. In Jamaica it is free, available at health centres in every parish.

I want to be clear that vaccinating boys matters as much as vaccinating girls. The same virus that causes cervical cancer causes throat, anal, and penile cancers, and the vaccine protects against all of them.

Two recent pieces of evidence give me particular pause. A 2022 analysis by Antonsson and colleagues found that engaging in oral sex roughly quadrupled the odds of oropharyngeal cancer, and that initiating oral sex before age 20 raised the risk almost tenfold. Closer to home, the 2017 Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey showed 34 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women reporting two to five sexual partners, with fewer than 40 per cent practising safe sex. We cannot pretend this is a problem somewhere else.

Many of the men and women reading this column are well past the catch-up window. For them, the conversation is about safer practise and informed choice.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminds us that chlamydia, syphilis, herpes, gonorrhoea, and HPV can all be passed through oral sex, and that poor oral health (tooth decay, gum disease, bleeding gums, mouth sores) raises the chance of transmission. Barrier protection, including the dental dam, helps. So does keeping the number of partners low, keeping up with dental visits and being honest with your doctor about your sexual history.

Older men in our society, in particular, should pay attention. Oropharyngeal cancer still lands hardest on men in their 50s and 60s, and the rise in HPV-driven cases among younger Jamaicans is a warning that the pattern is not slowing. We preach safety; the choices remain yours. But it is always better to be safe than sorry.

I am not in the business of prescribing what kind of sex anyone should have. You have your rights and preferences, and I respect them. What I will say is this: To parents of young Jamaicans, please get your children vaccinated. The window between ages nine and 14 is ideal, and the vaccine is free at all health centres. There are few decisions you can make for your child’s long-term health that are as straightforward, or as consequential. To young adults who missed the school programme: It is not too late. Walk into a health centre and ask.

And to the rest of us: Take safer sex seriously.

The Briton with the “awful luck” said he would not warn anyone off oral sex because he did not want to put them off. With respect, that is not the position of a minister of health.

We have a vaccine. We have the information. What anyone does with them is a personal matter but we owe ourselves, and our children, the chance to be safe. It could be a blessing in disguise.

Dr Chris Tufton, CD, MP, is Jamaica’s minister of health and wellness.

Email: cctufton@gmail.com

HPV is associated not only with cervical cancer but with anal, penile, and throat cancers, and the more partners and the more frequent the oral exposure, the higher the risk.