Acceptability of Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination and Practice of Cervical Cancer Screening among Female Parents/Guardians of Vaccine-Eligible Girls in Ethiopia

Rahel Demissew, Population Services International Ethiopia
Ashebir Getachew, Gandhi Memorial Hospital

Cervical cancer screening and human papillomavirus vaccination have been initiated in Ethiopia since 2018 but little is known about what affects the acceptability of the vaccine. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, the attitude of parents/guardians towards the vaccine, and the acceptability of the vaccine among the female parents and guardians of vaccine-eligible girls. It also assessed the practice of cervical screening in the same population. A cross-sectional study was done in a primary and secondary school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 197 female parents/guardians of these children through a structured questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with vaccine acceptance. There was a 61.9% acceptability rate for human papillomavirus vaccine which is lower compared with national and global rates. Those parents/guardians having poor knowledge of human papillomavirus were 70% less likely to accept the vaccine (aOR: 0.295; 95% CI: 0.133-0.655, P=0.007) and those with poor knowledge of HPV vaccination were almost 60% less likely to accept the human papillomavirus vaccine for their daughters (aOR: 0.401; 95% CI: 0.199-0.807, P=0.010). The findings imply that there is an urgent need for more education to inform the parents/guardians about human papillomavirus and human papilloma vaccine.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth

See extended abstract.