MSD Pharmaceuticals India rolls out #hpvsearchkiyakya

A public awareness campaign to educate about HPV prevention featuring Bollywood youth icon Sara Ali Khan to raise awareness.

MSD Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme (known as Merck & Co., Inc. in the United States and Canada) announced the launch of its integrated campaign on Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Consumer awareness called #HPVsearchkiyakya. The campaign that is aimed at educating the youth of India on HPV and HPV-related diseases, features popular youth icon Sara Ali Khan.

This is the first of many disease awareness communication campaigns launched with a focus on educating and sensitizing young adult females about the consequences associated with HPV infections. It will go one step further by giving the audiences an opportunity to connect with a network of healthcare professionals to seek more guidance on HPV.

The campaign aims to highlight the seriousness on HPV-related diseases in India including the fact that nearly 50-80% sexually active women can be infected by HPV at least once in their lifetime. Genital warts followed by cervical cancer, head and neck cancer, vaginal cancer, anal cancer, and vulvar cancer are amongst the top 6 HPV related diseases as understood from gynecologists in India.

This digital first HPV awareness initiative is pivoted on knowmorehpv.com, and will be further amplified through social media channels. It will also be extended on popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogchatter, Spotify, Snapchat and Hotstar.

Knowmorehpv.com empowers Young Adult Females with easy-to-understand knowledge around HPV and its prevention and offers one of the first in industry self-opted HPV expert counselling service for free.

Rehan A. Khan, managing director, MSD India Region said, “Launching this campaign is a crucial step towards advancing the mission of building a healthy young India by reducing the disease burden of HPV-related cancers and disease in the country. Our goal is to increase public awareness with this campaign. We are excited that Sara Ali Khan agreed to be a part of this initiative. She is a strong advocate of preventive healthcare and leads by example.”

Actor Sara Ali Khan said, “When I heard about the HPV disease awareness campaign, my first thought was “Yes, absolutely!” I feel it is imperative for young women to be aware about HPV and HPV-related diseases. Usually, preventive measures are not the first thing that comes to mind for young adults like us, and so being part of this campaign and urging women to know more about HPV makes me proud.”