Female Secondary School Students Sexual Exposure, Anti HPV Vaccine Awareness and Practice in High Cervical Cancer Prevalence Environment

Abstract

Background: Introduction: Eighty-five per cent of new cervical cancer cases in the world were recorded in developing countries in 2018. Implementation anti-HPV vaccine can prevent HPV infection by more than 90%. In Cameroon, the incidence of CC is 100 cases/100000 women and 27% of female adolescent have risky sexual behavior. The aim was to assess sexual behavior and the rate of vaccination against HPV in urban and rural secondary school girls in a country a high incidence and mortality due to CC. Method: It was a Knowledges Attitude and Practice study conducted in 10 secondary schools in the capital city of Yaoundé, and the rural town of Ndikinemeki including female students only. Results: Among the 1313 respondents, (30.4%) students were sexually active, the youngest age of first sexual intercourse was 12 and 14 years in urban and rural secondary school respectively. Oral or anal intercourse were occasional in urban area schools. The knowledge on HPV vaccine were bad but the acceptability was good although only 0.8% received occasional HPV vaccine. Conclusion: Large scale sensitization and affordability of HPV-vaccine should be implemented in order to reduce the coming incidence of CC.