Willingness to vaccinate their daughters against human papillomavirus among parents of Ethiopian adolescent girls: a systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: HPV vaccination of adolescent girls is the primary strategy for cervical cancer prevention but in Ethiopia, it lacks emphasis. Despite different studies done and found a highly variable level of parents’ willingness to vaccinate their daughter for HPV; however, there was no summarized evidence of parents' willingness as a nation. Thus this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of parents' willingness to HPV vaccination of their daughters and associated factors in Ethiopia. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Comprehensive literature was searched in international databases. A weighted inverse variance random effect model was used to estimate pooled prevalence. Cochrane Q test and I(2) statistics were computed to assess heterogeneity. Funnel plot and Eggers test were done to assess publication bias. Review manager software was used to identify determinants of parents’ willingness. RESULTS: Overall, 172 articles were retrieved and finally 7 articles were included in this review. The pooled prevalence of parents' willingness to HPV vaccination of their daughters was 71.82% (95% CI 57.73–85.91%). Knowledge about HPV vaccination (AOR = 2.80, 95% CI (2.10–3.73)), attitude (AOR = 4.93, 95% CI (3.48–6.99)), educational status (AOR = 2.19, 95% CI 1.54–3.10) and income (AOR = 3.13, 95% CI 1.96–5.02)) were significantly associated with parents' willingness. CONCLUSIONS: Parents' willingness to HPV vaccination of their daughters in Ethiopia was low. Knowledge, attitude, educational status, and income were positively associated with parents' willingness. Therefore, policymakers and program planners should target those important stakeholders (parents) in increasing their awareness and changing their attitude to enhance their vaccine acceptance specifically focusing on those who are lower in economic and educational status so as to prevent the lethal cervical cancer. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40545-023-00639-9.