The discovery that the Human PapillomaVirus (HPV) is the necessary cause of 
cervical cancer has led to the development of prophylactic vaccines. Cervical 
cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer among young women in 
Europe: mortality is still high, despite its important reduction due to 
screening programs for early detection. Besides cervical cancer, HPV is 
responsible for a significant proportion of other anogenital cancers and an 
increasing number of oropharyngeal cancers, representing together an at least 
equal burden compared to cervical cancer. HPV is also responsible for conditions 
such as condyloma acuminata (genital warts) and recurrent respiratory 
papillomatosis. Organized vaccination programs against HPV have the potential to 
prevent about 70% of cervical cancers and the vast majority of the other 
HPV-related conditions. Recommendations for HPV vaccination of at least one 
cohort of females have been issued in nearly all western European countries, and 
national/regional publicly funded vaccination programs have been introduced in 
most of them. Different approaches have been chosen for the implementation of 
HPV vaccination, based on the organization of each country's health care system. 
A brief outline of these programs in Europe is presented. As for all preventive 
public health interventions, high coverage of the target population with HPV 
vaccines pre-exposure is essential to achieve maximum reduction of cases: 
therefore, in order to obtain the maximum and most equitable coverage and future 
benefit, programs targeting adolescents before exposure to HPV should be 
preferred and population-based. Catch-up programs should also be implemented 
wherever possible, in order to deliver more and even earlier benefits, and 
effective communication strategies need to be adopted.