Knowledge and Attitude of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination and associated Factors Among Adolescent School Girls in Ambo Town, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract Background Large-scale HPV vaccination offers a revolutionary new tool, especially in low- and middle-income countries, where 86% of cervical cancer cases and 88% of related deaths occur. There is little research done on knowledge and attitudes towards HPV vaccine in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study attempts to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding HPV vaccination and related factors among adolescent girls in Ambo town, Oromia, Ethiopia, in 2021. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted from May 01 to 30, 2021, at selected schools of Ambo town among 422 adolescent Girls. The collected data were coded, entered, and cleaned by using Epi-Info 7.2.3 and exported to Statistical package for social science version 25 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to compute summary statistics and proportion. Variables at a cut off value (0.25) on bivariate and (0.05) on multivariate logistic-regression were used to identify predictors that were associated to knowledge and attitude of HPV vaccine among Adolescent Girls Result Current study revealed that 24.9% (103) and 55.6% (230) of respondents had good knowledge and favorable attitude respectively. The factors like educational level (AOR=2.011 95% CI; (1.239, 3.265)), having health workers as a source of information (AOR=2.132, 95%CI; (1.304, 3.486)), and respondents who have heard about HPV vaccine at school (AOR=1.66, 95% CI (1.02, 2.71)) were significantly associated with respondent’s knowledge of HPV vaccine. Moreover, perceived severity of the diseases (AOR=2.894, 95%CI; (1.607, 5.21)), and perceived benefit of the vaccine (AOR=4.263 95% CI; (2.431, 7.475)) were the two factors significantly associated with attitude of the respondents about HPV vaccine. Conclusion There was poor knowledge and unfavorable attitude of HPV vaccination among the school Adolescents of the study area. Several seemingly major deterrents of knowledge and attitude of the HPV vaccination were identified. Therefore, awareness creation and behavioral change education is mandatory.