Abstract
BackgroundDespite the fact that cervical cancer is preventable and curable in the early stages, it still remains to be a major public health problem in India. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and awareness regarding the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination among health care professionals working in a tertiary care hospital in urban India.MethodsTo this aim, we conducted a cross-sectional study among 318 health care professionals working in tertiary hospitals across Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Our research group designed a structured questionnaire with 31 items to assess the knowledge and attitudes on cervical cancer, its prevention, and HPV vaccination.ResultsAmong the 318 respondents, 90.6% were aware of cervical cancer, 83.3% were aware that PAP (Papanicolaou) smear test detects cervical cancer, and 86.2% of the respondents knew that HPV causes cervical cancer. 29.2% of the eligible respondents underwent the screening against cervical cancer, and 19.8% of the study participants were vaccinated for HPV. Only 34.9% know that the HPV vaccine could be given to boys. The most common reason for not being vaccinated against HPV was the lack of awareness. In our study, 77.2% of the respondents were willing to be vaccinated and recommend HPV vaccination to their family members.ConclusionFrom this study, it was evident that there is a lack of awareness about HPV vaccination and its importance in preventing cervical cancer among healthcare professionals. Our finding clearly establishes the need to devise intervention programs to promote vaccination against HPV and periodical screening for cervical cancer among healthcare professionals.
Highlights
Despite the fact that cervical cancer is preventable and curable in the early stages, it still remains to be a major public health problem in India
Knowledge of cervical cancer and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination The knowledge survey on cervical cancer among health care professionals revealed that almost 90.6% of the participants were aware of cervical cancer, in which 75.5% of the professionals know that cervical cancer is often prevented by screening
83.3% of them knew that PAP smear test is used to detect cervical cancer even before the symptoms appear and 68.2% of the study subjects knew that cancer
Summary
Despite the fact that cervical cancer is preventable and curable in the early stages, it still remains to be a major public health problem in India. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection causes cervical cancer, HPV 16 and 18 strains account for 75% of these cases [3]. Most of the Genital HPV infections are asymptomatic but previous research evidence shows that most cervical cancer cases are caused by high-risk HPV types [5]. The prevention and control of cervical cancer depend on awareness about the disease, screening procedures, and preventive measures [4]. Despite being included under the non-communicable diseases control program by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, there is still no organized or high opportunistic screening approaches implemented for cervical cancer in India.
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