Parental Uptake of Cervical Cancer Vaccine for their Female Adolescent in a City in Nigeria

Cervical Cancer Vaccine is known to be one the effective ways of preventing cervical cancer. The present study aimed to assess parents’ knowledge on uptake of human papilloma virus vaccine (HPVV) by adolescents, describe their perception on the uptake of HPVV by adolescents, and identify their cultural beliefs which could influence HPV uptake.

This work is a cross-sectional study. We conducted the current study in a local government area in Nigeria from December 2019 to February 2020. A total of 350 participants were recruited using a multi-stage sampling technique. A foursectioned, 44-item-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. We strictly adhered ethical principles. The data was analysed via descriptive statistics.

The obtained findings revealed that only 56.0% of the parents were aware of HPV, out of whom 73% had a good level of knowledge of cervical cancer vaccine. On the contrary, 1.7% of them had good perception of cervical cancer vaccine uptake while 67.1% had low perception. We also indicated that educational status of the parents influenced the uptake of HPVV by their adolescents (F=0.54, P=0.54). Additionally, 75% of the participants had negative cultural beliefs which prevent them from allowing their adolescents to take up the vaccine.

Awareness of HPV was found to be moderate while the majority of those who are aware of HPV had high knowledge of cervical cancer screening. Most of the parents had low perception of cervical cancer vaccine. Similarly, a big proportion of the parents had negative cultural beliefs about HPVV uptake. Thus, parents should be provided with further education in this regard so that they promote the uptake of HPVV for their female adolescents.