Men born male may be immune to cervical cancer, but they play a pivotal role in helping to do away with the disease – with good reason to do so. Men benefit greatly from keeping women alive. But in order to spare persons with cervixes this potent killer, they must put women’s rights at the forefront. The following are among the ways men can demonstrate this alliance: they can lower HPV transmission through condom use and male circumcision, support and advocate for family members and friends fighting cervical cancer, back women in key leadership positions, and empower them to make their own health care decisions. Men can also work to transform patriarchal norms and laws – belief systems often at the root of ignorance, misunderstanding, and stigma about the disease. All of these efforts are instrumental toward the larger goal of reducing cervical cancer rates. As men get involved with cervical cancer elimination in higher- or lower-income countries, their activism alongside or on behalf of women can make an immediate difference. The quest to eliminate this disease simply cannot succeed without the unwavering support, understanding, and commitment of the world’s other half.

It can be painful to witness the toll of cervical cancer on women offered next-to-no treatment options. Persons with cervixes who acquire the disease in places like Africa or Southeast Asia often experience a brutal life trajectory. In the absence of highly trained professionals, sophisticated medical facilities, and expensive surgical or radiation equipment, most cervical cancer patients in lower-income countries are sent home to die. These deaths can be protracted and lonely, with little access to palliative care. What’s more, the stigma of the disease – associated with “dirty” female reproductive organs and the smell of advanced cancer – can lead to social banishment in a sufferer’s final days. In higher-income countries, greater availability of treatment is still no guarantee of equity. Low-income patients in the United States are often cut off from insurance once cancer goes into remission, excluding them from critical follow-up. Pockets of inequity, the rural–urban divide, and inconsistent access to care mean women from affluent countries die inexcusably from a preventable cancer. The inhumane circumstances cervical cancer sufferers face worldwide remind us of this mission’s urgency.