Awareness and knowledge regarding human papilloma virus vaccine among medical students

Context: Cervical cancer is the commonest type of cancer in females worldwide and can lead to mortality in some of the cases. Most cases of cervical carcinomas are due to infection by Human Papilloma Virus types 16 and 18. Cervical carcinomas can be prevented by vaccination against HPV as HPV is the commonest risk factor that can be prevented. Despite the availability of vaccine, its existence is hardly known and is seldom used due to lack of awareness. Hence this study is being undertaken to assess the awareness amongst medical students. Aim: To analyze the knowledge of medical students about the availability and acceptance of HPV vaccination against cervical cancer Settings and Design: It is an observational descriptive study done after taking the informed consent from all the undergraduate medical students in our institute. Methods and Material: The study was done on all the undergraduate medical students by providing a preformed questionnaire, regarding HPV vaccination. Statistical Analysis: The results were entered into a Microsoft excel sheet. Standard error of difference between proportions is applied to know the significance of difference in results between the variables. Results: The results will help in assessing the need for awareness programs among the medical students Conclusions: As prevention is better can cure, awareness about the HPV vaccine among the medical students, will definitively help to prevent cervical cancer.