Awareness and uptake of human papilloma virus vaccines among female secondary school students in Benin City, Nigeria

Background: There is no Government endorsed HPV vaccine immunisation program in Nigeria. The Vaccine has been available at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Benin City for more than 7 years. Objectives: The aim was to evaluate awareness about HPV, the prevalence of HPV immunisation and its associated factors among the study population. Methods: A cross-sectional study using interviewer-administered questionnaires among 215 females attending secondary schools in Benin city, Nigeria. Participants were selected using multi-stage stratified sampling. The primary outcome measure was HPV immunisation of the girls. Results: The majority of the participants were between 14 to 18 years (58.6%). Almost all the participants (>97%) had not heard of HPV, HPV Vaccines and Cervical cancer. In addition, 2 (0.9%) persons correctly identified that the virus can be transmitted sexually while only 1 person (0.5%) had received the HPV vaccine. The respondents all agreed that they needed to be enlightened about HPV, HPV vaccines and Cervical cancer. Majority (49.3%) of the girls suggested that this could be done through the mass media (49.3%) or their parents (32.1%). Conclusion: HPV immunisation, knowledge of HPV vaccines and Cervical cancer among the study population was very low. We recommend interventions in Schools to increase knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV vaccines.