Community awareness and knowledge of cervical cancer screening and human papilloma virus vaccination among women at tertiary care centre

Background: Aim of the study was to study the knowledge and awareness of the women about human papilloma virus (HPV) and HPV vaccine to establish the need of more aggressive educational programmes.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at gynaecology OPD among 250 women in reproductive age group. A structured questionnaire was used to gather information regarding sociodemographic characteristics, awareness and knowledge toward cervical cancer and its screening. Results were assessed depending upon their scores.Results: Out of 250 participants, 62.8% (n=157) of them had previously heard about the disease. 36.8% of the participants answered “don’t know” when asked if HPV is sexually transmitted. 43.6 % (n=109) did not know whether HPV causes cancer. Only 10.4% (n=26) answered correctly that HPV infection occurs in both men and women. Although 78.8% (n=197) were aware of the fact that cervical cancer is very much responsible for the cancer related deaths in females, still only 48% of them knew about the screening facility available nearby.Conclusions: The knowledge of the participants in our study with respect to HPV and cervical cancer is not very high and their awareness related to HPV vaccination is relatively low. This study suggests that there is a need of advocating more aggressive educational and promotional activities on HPV and HPV vaccination in the community