Awareness and Knowledge of Human Papillomavirus and its Vaccine Amongst Doctors of Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the awareness and level of knowledge of Human Papillomavirus and its vaccine amongst doctors and their attitude towards vaccination.
Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at Wah Medical College & its affiliated teaching hospital Wah Cantt, Pakistan to recruit doctors only into the study. Amongst the targeted population of 205 subjects, an anonymous, self-administered survey was distributed. The survey was designed to have multiple-choice questions based on literature, assessing awareness and knowledge of Human Papillomavirus & its vaccine and their attitude towards vaccination. Data was analyzed using SPSS software (version 17.0) and chi-square test was used to test differences in awareness and knowledge.
Results: Out of a total of 205 doctors who were included in the study, 199 responded resulting in a response rate of 97%. However, 10 surveys were excluded from a study being incomplete or having invalid responses. Surveys from 189 participants were analyzed with a mean age of 31.8±10.3 years and the majority were females (70.9%). Overall awareness of Human Papillomavirus was high amongst doctors (96.2%). 28.6% had never heard of HPV vaccine. Majority of the participants preferred only girls to receive this vaccination while 93.7% expressed their interest to have this vaccination.
Conclusion: Imparting knowledge regarding Human Papillomavirus vaccine amongst doctors is a necessary step towards implementing effective prevention programmes and to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Pakistan.