Abstract
BackgroundAs preventing cancer with the help of a vaccine is a comparatively new concept, awareness and education about it will have important implication in the implementation of this strategy.Materials and MethodsPresent explorative questionnaire based survey included 618 MBBS students for final analysis.ResultsMajority of participants (89.6%) were well aware of the preventable nature of cervical cancer. Most of them (89.2%) knew that necessary factor responsible for cervical cancer is infection with high risk HPV. Awareness regarding the availability of vaccine against cervical cancer was 75.6%. Females had a better awareness regarding availability of vaccine, target population for vaccination and about the catch up program. Overall acceptance of HPV vaccine among the population studied was 67.8%. Medical teaching had a definitive impact on the understanding of this important public health issue. Females seemed to be more ready to accept the vaccine and recommend it to others. For our study population the most common source of information was medical school teaching. Majority of participants agreed that the most important obstacle in implementation of HPV vaccination program in our country is inadequate information and 86.2% wanted to be educated by experts in this regard.ConclusionHPV vaccine for primary prevention of cervical cancer is a relatively new concept. Health professional will be able to play a pivotal role in popularizing this strategy.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide
Two seventy seven (44.8%) students were in the final year of medical school
Three forty one (55.2%) had recently joined medical school, were studying preclinical subjects with bare minimum exposure to patients and clinical teaching. This group served as control group for our study to evaluate the contribution of medical education, in practical issues like cervical cancer prevention
Summary
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide. About 500,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer contributing to around 270,000 deaths, across the globe every year. In India alone there are an estimated 132,000 new cases and 74,000 deaths each year [2]. The discovery that human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for virtually all cervical cancers [3], [4], [5] opens exciting new possibilities for controlling this disease. As preventing cancer with the help of a vaccine is a comparatively new concept, awareness and education about it will have important implication in the implementation of this strategy
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