Mothers' preferences and willingness to pay for HPV vaccines in Vinh Long Province, Vietnam

About 530,000 women develop cervical cancer worldwide and 275,000 die from the disease each year. Eighty percent of these deaths occur in developing countries. In Vietnam, cervical cancer has recently emerged as the most common type of cancer in women, and there are no national screening programs for cervical cancer. Since 2009, two different human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have been licensed for use in Vietnam, but access to these vaccines is generally limited to people who live in urban areas. Studies have shown that HPV vaccination may be cost-effective in cervical cancer prevention in Vietnam, depending on vaccination costs. Given that current HPV vaccines are expensive and public health funding for supporting a rapid introduction of the vaccine is limited, expanding and sustaining access to the HPV vaccine may require alternative financing mechanisms, such as fees-based immunization services. A conjoint analysis study was conducted with mothers of girls 9-17 years of age in Vinh Long Province in Vietnam to estimate the mothers' demand for HPV vaccines for their daughters and to measure the tradeoffs between vaccine fees and vaccine uptake. The results suggest that the demand for HPV vaccines was high, increased with vaccine effectiveness and duration of effectiveness, and decreased with vaccine cost. Vaccine effectiveness was the most important vaccine attribute to these mothers, followed by duration of effectiveness. The predicted probability of respondents buying an HPV vaccine that was 70% effective for 10 years varied by the price, ranging from 30% when the vaccine price was $353 per course, to 68% when the vaccine cost $6 per course. As expected, demand and predicted purchase probability were higher among groups with higher socioeconomic status. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.