HPV Vaccine and Cervical Cancer Screening Uptake among women in Abia State

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, and it is associated with infection by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). There are effective interventions for the prevention of cervical cancer. However, the uptake of these interventions by women in developing countries is poor. This study assessed the knowledge and practices of cervical cancer preventive measures and uptake of HPV vaccines among women in Abia State. Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study among women in Abia State. Multistage sampling was used to recruit 700 eligible women and an ODK interviewerbased structured questionnaire was used to collect the information. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were done using SPSS version 26. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 40.3 ± 9.9 years and the proportion of women with good knowledge of HPV infection and vaccine was 22.0% (95% CI: 18.9- 25.1). The uptake of Pap smear and HPV vaccine was 7% and 3%, respectively, while predictors of good knowledge for HPV infection and vaccine included higher educational status (aOR = 2.53; 95% CI: 1.73–3.71, p = 0.001), being currently married (aOR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.18–0.54, p= 0.001) and divorced (aOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.13–0.49, p=0.001). Conclusion: Poor knowledge of HPV infection and vaccines, and poor uptake of Pap smear and HPV vaccine were prevalent among the respondents. We recommend policymakers design health education programmes to improve knowledge and preventive cervical cancer practices.