Knowledge, attitude and uptake of human papillomavirus vaccination among female undergraduates in Lagos State, Nigeria

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a known cause of cervical cancer which is the second-most common cancer among women worldwide. HPV vaccination is a primary prevention to reduce the occurrence of cervical cancer. This study assessed knowledge, attitude and uptake of HPV vaccine among female undergraduates in Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH). METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 female undergraduates of LASPOTECH in August 2018. Participants were selected using a multi-stage sampling technique and data was collected with a pretested, self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS version 20. Statistically significant level was set at P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Mean age of respondents was 21.3 ± 2 years. Only 11 (3%) of the respondents had good knowledge of HPV and the vaccine. However, majority of the respondents 356 (92.7%) had positive attitude towards uptake of HPV vaccine. Only 10 (2.6%) of the respondents had received a single dose of HPV vaccine. Age, level of study and number of sexual partners of the respondents were statistically significantly associated with knowledge and attitude towards the HPV vaccine (P ≤ 0.05). The most common reason stated by the respondents for none uptake of HPV vaccine was lack of information. CONCLUSION: Knowledge and uptake of HPV vaccination among the respondents were poor. However, majority had positive attitude towards uptake of the vaccine. It is recommended that information on HPV and the vaccine should be made available to increase the knowledge and the uptake among female undergraduates in Lagos State.