National HPV Immunisation Programme: Knowledge and Acceptance of Mothers Attending an Obstetrics Clinic at a Teaching Hospital, Kuala Lumpur

Background: Introduction of the HPV vaccine is a forefront primary prevention method in reducing theincidence of carcinogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. The Malaysia government hasimplemented the National HPV immunisation programme since 2010, supplying HPV vaccine free to targeted13 year olds. This study aimed to explore the level of knowledge among mothers on cervical cancer, HPV,HPV vaccine and National HPV (NHPV) immunisation programme since its’ implementation. It also assessedacceptance of mothers towards HPV vaccine being administered to their daughter, son or themselves. Materialsand
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 155 respondents using self-administered questionnaires;conducted in December 2012 at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur.Respondents were selected using a multistage sampling technique.
Results: A response rate of 100% was obtained.Overall, 51.0% of mothers had good knowledge, with 55% having good knowledge of cervical cancer, 54.2%for both HPV and the National HPV immunisation programme and 51.0% for the HPV vaccine. Regressionanalyses showed that ethnicity was associated with knowledge on cervical cancer (p=0.003) while education wasassociated with knowledge on HPV (p=0.049). Three factors are associated with knowledge of the National HPVimmunisation programme; ethnicity (p=0.017), mothers’ education (p=0.0005) and number of children (p=0.020).The acceptance of HPV vaccine to be administered among daughter was the highest at 87.1%, followed by formothers themselves at 73.5%, and the least is for sons 62.6%.
Conclusions: This study found that the overalllevel of knowledge was moderate. Adequate information on cervical cancer, HPV, HPV vaccination and theNational HPV immunisation programme should be provided to mothers in order to increase acceptance of theHPV vaccine which can reduce the disease burden in the future.