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Awareness and acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccination among health sciences students in Malaysia

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Abstract

The major cause of cervical cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV) for which vaccination is available. The success HPV vaccination programme largely depend on the degree of knowledge of the healthcare providers who can recommend to the public. Health sciences students as future healthcare providers play a major role in HPV vaccination initiatives. The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, practice and to find out the willingness to pay for HPV vaccination among the health sciences students in a private university. The cross-sectional study was conducted among the university students studying health sciences program using a validated questionnaire to measure their awareness and acceptance of HPV vaccination. The students demonstrated moderate knowledge about HPV infection and vaccination with mean knowledge scores of 9.3 out of 17. Students were showing positive attitude towards HPV vaccination with mean scores of 3.80 out of 5. However, low HPV vaccination uptake rate was reported among the students. Most of the students were willing to recommend HPV vaccine. The participants felt that the cost is the major barrier towards HPV vaccination and they felt the government should cover the cost of vaccination for all. The results of this study may be helpful in establishing educational policies on cervical cancer-related topics in the universities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Institute for Research, Development & Innovation, and International Medical University, Malaysia. We thank Professor Brian Furman, University of Strathclyde for his comments that greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Kingston Rajiah, Mari Kannan Maharajan & Nang Sue Chin

  2. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Kelly Sze Fang Num

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  1. Kingston Rajiah
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  2. Mari Kannan Maharajan
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Correspondence to Kingston Rajiah.

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Rajiah, K., Maharajan, M.K., Chin, N.S. et al. Awareness and acceptance of human papillomavirus vaccination among health sciences students in Malaysia. VirusDis. 26, 297–303 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13337-015-0287-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13337-015-0287-3

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