The aim of the present study was to determine the distribution of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) genotypes in childbearing age women, teenage girls, HIV-infected women, women with high-grade precancerous lesions and cervical cancer, sex workers, men, and otolaryngology tumor cases in Burkina Faso. This descriptive cross-sectional study with several target groups, consisted of 2386 samples from Burkina Faso. HR-HPV genotypes were characterized using real-time multiplex PCR. The prevalence of HR-HPV ranged from 15.63 to 72.31% depending on the target population and the nature of the samples. The most predominant genotypes in descending order were HPV-56, HPV-52, HPV-39, HPV-59, HPV-51, HPV-35, HPV-31, HPV-18, HPV-68, HPV-16, HPV-66, HPV-58, HPV-45, and HPV-33. The results of the present study show a wide variation in the distribution of HR-HPV genotypes in Burkina Faso. Genotypes 16 and 18 covered by HPV vaccines only accounted for 32.23% of HR-HPV cases.

In recent years, Africa has been increasingly involved in biotechnology and genomics. However, this interest is much more accentuated in the field of agriculture. From published studies, we know that biotechnology and genomics can be of great interest in the health field. Africa would, therefore, benefit from investing in these disciplines, especially since the continent is facing several pandemics and epidemics. The objective of this chapter is to make a review of the applications in genomics already existing in Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso, to show the interest of genomics in the field of health by taking into account the context of developing countries and to specify the possible applications of genomics in the fight against papillomaviridae and their associated cancer.