Assessing the Effectiveness of a Community-Based Sensitization Strategy in Creating Awareness About HPV, Cervical Cancer and HPV Vaccine Among Parents in North West Cameroon

Abstract

In 2010, the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) received a donation of HPV vaccine (Gardasil®) to immunize girls of ages 9-13 years in the North West Region of Cameroon. We evaluated the effectiveness of the CBCHS campaign program in sensitizing parents/guardians to encourage HPV vaccine uptake, identified factors that influence parents' decisions to vaccinate girls, and examined the uptake of cervical cancer screening among mothers. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in four healthcare facilities run by CBCHS, churches and other social settings. A total of 350 questionnaires were distributed and 317 were used for the analysis. There were high levels of awareness about cervical cancer, HPV and HPV vaccine. 75.5% understood HPV is sexually transmitted and 90.3% were aware of the use of vaccine as a preventive measure. Effectiveness of the vaccine (31.8%) and side effects/safety (18.4%) were the major barriers for parents to vaccinate their daughters. Bivariate analysis further revealed that the level of education (p = 0.0006), income level (p = 0.0044) and perceived risks (p = 0.0044) are additional factors influencing parents' decisions to vaccinate girls. 35.3% of women had sought a cervical cancer screening, significantly higher than the general estimated rate of screening (<10%) in other parts of Cameroon and sub-Saharan Africa. These results support the viability of a community-tailored sensitization strategy to increase awareness among the targeted audience of parents/guardians, who are critical decision-makers for vaccine delivery to children.

An assessment of women’s awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer and screening and the barriers to cervical screening in Ogun State, Nigeria.

“…This affirms the WHO assertion many years ago that in most developing countries, only 5% of the women at any point in time had been screened for cervical cancer [29,30]. The figure is also in tune (though lower) with the screening coverage levels in Nigeria and most of sub-Saharan Africa which is generally below 10% [22]. The screening coverage ranges from 5.2% in Ibadan, 4.7% in Ago-Iwoye,8.7% in Sagamu,and 4.4% in Sokoto [31][32][33][34].…”

“…In Enugu, the awareness significantly varied with the level of educational attainment [21]. High level of awareness about cervical cancer was also found in North-west Cameroon [22]. Higher levels of awareness were found among students and healthcare workers.…”

Parents' Knowledge, Risk Perception and Willingness to Allow Young Males to Receive Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccines in Uganda

“…This is consistent with studies that have established high HPV vaccine uptake among comparable adolescent populations [12], [21], [22], [34]. The relatively high parental acceptability of hypothetically vaccinating their sons with HPV vaccines is also consistent with commentaries from elsewhere [10], [19], [37].…”

Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening in Burkina Faso: Needs for Patient and Professional Education

“…Most participants in our study heard about cervical cancer before their interview explaining why knowledge level about cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening was higher in our study compared to the other study conducted in Burkina [12] which found a lower proportion of participants who previously heard about cervical cancer. Awareness about cervical cancer, HPV and HPV vaccination in North West Cameroon also found level of education to be an influencing factor in a parents understanding of the disease and decision to allow their daughters to be vaccinated [31]. In Lagos, Nigeria, education was also related to a woman being willing to have screening for cervical cancer [32].…”

“…Income level and cost of screening, which is related to a patient’s or a patient’s family’s employment, was found to be an important factor in other studies investigating cervical cancer screening barriers. These studies in Northwest Cameroon [31], Southeast Nigeria [19], and Botswana [18] found higher income or reduced costs of screening to be related to better screening rates. Additionally, an assessment of cervical cancer screening in low-income countries found household SES and a country’s health expenditure to be determinants of cervical and breast cancer screening rates [33].…”