Recently on campus, as I left the bank, a few girls I'd never taught stopped me with a question at the crossroads of science and society. "Sir, should we get the HPV vaccine?" I urged them to consult clinicians first. They replied, politely but firmly, that they read my opinion pieces and wanted the broader view. Because the exchange was being recorded, I chose my words carefully. Today, I am putting them in black and white, because on HPV (human papillomavirus), awareness is half the cure.

HPV is not a scandal; it is biology. It is a family of viruses spread through intimate skin-to-skin contact. Most infections clear on their own; a minority persist, particularly types 16 and 18, and can lead to pre-cancers and, years later, cervical cancer. The vaccine blocks those high-risk infections early, before exposure. That is why public-health systems across the world treat HPV vaccination as cancer prevention, not as a comment on personal behavior or morality.

Why write now? Because Pakistan has finally moved........

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