Background We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarise the available data on the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) among men in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods PubMed and Embase were searched up to 10 March 2014. Random effects meta-analyses were used to calculate a pooled prevalence of any HPV and high-risk (HR) HPV.

Results A total of 11 studies comprising 9342 men were identified. We found that HPV is very common among men in sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of any HPV ranging between 19.1% and 100%. Using random effects meta-analysis, the pooled prevalence of any HPV was 78.2% (95% CI 54.2 to 91.6) among HIV-positive and 49.4% (95% CI 30.4 to 68.6) among HIV-negative men (p=0.0632). When restricting the analyses to PCR-based studies, the pooled prevalence of any HPV was 84.5% (95% CI 74.2 to 91.2) among HIV-positive and 56.4% (95% CI 49.7 to 62.9) among HIV-negative men (p<0.0001). Of the HPV types included in the nine-valent HPV vaccine, the most common HR HPV types were HPV16 and HPV52, and HPV6 was the most common low-risk HPV type. When examining the prevalence of HPV in relation to age no clear trend was observed.

Conclusions The prevalence of HPV is high among men in sub-Saharan Africa, which could contribute to the high rates of penile and cervical cancer in this part of the world. Implementation of the prophylactic HPV vaccines could potentially help prevent this large burden of HPV and HPV-associated disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00932009.