Knowledge on HPV Vaccine & Cervical Cancer Facilitates Vaccine Acceptability among School Teachers in Kitui County, Kenya

Below:  Reasons for not allowing daughter to receive HPV vaccination. Shows reasons why teachers would not allow a daughter to receive HPV vaccine.

Below:  Participants’ responses to various statements.  Shows participants’ responses on a Likert scale: The black color represents those who ‘agreed’, the light grey color represents the proportion who were ‘neutral’ and the dark grey represents those who ‘disagreed’ with the statement.

Below:  Barriers to the HPV vaccination project. Shows barriers to the HPV vaccination project in Kitui County as reported by Primary School teachers.

339 teachers (60% female) completed the survey (62% response rate) and 13 participated in 2 focus group discussions. Vaccine awareness among teachers was high (90%), the level of knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer among teachers was moderate (48%, SD = 10.9) and females scored higher than males (50% vs. 46%, p = 0.002). Most teachers (89%) would recommend the vaccine to their daughter or close relatives. Those who would recommend the vaccine had more knowledge than those who would not (p = <0.001). The main barriers were insufficient information about the vaccine, poor accessibility of schools, absenteeism of girls on vaccine days, and fear of side effects.

Despite low to moderate levels of knowledge about HPV vaccine among school teachers, vaccine acceptability is high. Teachers with little knowledge on HPV vaccine are less likely to accept the vaccine than those who know more; this may affect uptake if not addressed. Empowering teachers to be vaccine champions in their community may be a feasible way of disseminating information about HPV vaccine and cervical cancer.

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