Objectives With the perspective of prophylactic vaccination against high‐risk human papillomavirus (HPV), we analyzed the viral epidemiology of cervical neoplasia in Senegal. Methods All patients were treated at the Institut Joliot Curie du Cancer in Dakar. HPV genotypes were characterized using a real‐time polymerase chain reaction‐based approach and sequencing. Results Histologically, there were 224 invasive carcinomas, 17 high‐grade intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and five undetermined histologies. Molecular analysis was conclusive in 241 cases. HPV DNA was found in 207/241 (85.9%) cases while 34/241 (14.1%) remained HPV negative. There was one single genotype in 127/207 (61.4%) cases and several in 80/207 (38.6%) corresponding to 308 genotypes identified. Viral genotyping found HPV16 in 175 (56.8%) cases, HPV18 in 45 (14.6%), HPV45 in 40 (13.0%), HPV58 in 35 (11.4%), HPV33 in 6 (2.0%), HPV35 in 3 (1.0%), HPV31 in 2 (0.6%), HPV39 and HPV56 in one (0.3% each). Conclusion Our analysis showed that 98.4% of the HPV‐positive cases were associated with viral genotypes covered by the 9‐valent HPV vaccine. However, 14.1% of cases remained HPV negative. Therefore, prophylactic vaccination using a 9‐valent vaccine should dramatically reduce the incidence of HPV‐associated neoplasia but the detection and treatment of CIN remain necessary for the optimal prevention of cervical cancer.