Cervical Cancer Knowledge and Health System Factors in HPV Vaccine Acceptance Among Fathers in Uasin Gishu County
Abstract
Background: Human papillomavirus infections are transmitted sexually and can be prevented by giving HPV vaccines to adolescent and pre-adolescent girls before their sexual debut. Kenya launched the HPV vaccination as part of the National Routine Immunization Initiative in October 2019. This has been confronted with several problems, including parental opposition, particularly from men. The main objective is to assess the factors that influence fathers' acceptance of the use of the Human papillomavirus vaccine by their daughters. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted. The sample size was 375, 153 in Kesses and 222 in Kapseret sub-counties. A total of 9 in-depth interviews and 8 key informant interviews were conducted. The participants were fathers with daughters aged between 10 and 19 years who gave consent. A multi-stage sampling was adopted. Data collection was done using interviewer-administered questions and key informant interviews. SPSS version 27 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and logistic regression analysis were done, and the significance was 95% with a p-value of 0.05. The qualitative data were recorded and transcribed, and key themes were identified. Results: Factors significantly associated with acceptance at bivariate level were the knowledge of the HPV vaccine (p<0.001), knowledge of cervical cancer (p<0.001), recommendations from HCWs (p=0.045), Government Policy (p=0.024) and HPV vaccine availability (p-0.002) Knowledge of HPV transmission, risk factors, prevention of cervical cancer and persons at risk of infection was very low. Conclusion and recommendations: HPV vaccine acceptance among fathers of adolescent daughters is still very low. Public health awareness on the HPV vaccine should focus more on fathers as the key primary decision makers
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References
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