Knowledge of Human Papillomavirus Infection and Acceptability of HPV Vaccination among New Intake Nursing Students in Benin City, Nigeria

Introduction : Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections and has been implicated in over 70% of cases of cervical cancer. This study assessed the knowledge of HPV infection and acceptability of HPV vaccination among nursing students in Benin City. Methodology : A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in 2013 among 165 respondents that made up the total population of first year nursing students in the three nursing schools in Benin City, Nigeria. Structured self-administered questionnaire was the tool for data collection. The data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Scientific Solution, Version 20.0. Results : Respondents were aged between 17–30 years with a mean age of 28.9+8.3 years. About two-third 113 (68.5%) of participants were aware of HPV infection. Among the 113 respondents, 57 (50.4%) and 48 (42.5%) identified HPV infection as the cause of cervical cancer and genital warts respectively. Among all 165 respondents, 104 (63.0%) were aware of HPV vaccination of which 69 (66.4%) and 37 (35.6%) knew it could be used in the prevention of cervical cancer and that it is recommended for use between the ages of 9 and 26 years. Half the respondents 52 (50%) were interested in receiving the vaccine, while 29 (27.9%) had no desire to be vaccinated. Only 1 (0.9%) had received the vaccine. Conclusion : Nursing students in Benin City had poor knowledge of Human papillomavirus infection and acceptability of HPV vaccination was low. There is need to educate nursing students appropriately on the primary prevention of cervical cancer with the use of HPV vaccines Keywords : Knowledge HPV infection, Vaccine acceptability, Nursing students.