Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Malaysian Medical and Pharmacy Students Towards Human Papillomavirus Vaccination

Abstract

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections andoncogenic HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer. However, HPV vaccination is already available as theprimary preventive method against cervical cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the level ofknowledge, attitude and practice of HPV vaccination among Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) andUniversiti Malaya (UM) students. This study was conducted from March until August 2009. Pre-tested andvalidated questionnaires were filled by the third year UKM (n=156) and UM (n=149) students from medical,dentistry and pharmacy faculties. The results showed that the overall level of knowledge on HPV infection, cervicalcancer and its prevention among respondents was high and the majority of them had positive attitude towardsHPV vaccination. Medical students had the highest level of knowledge (p<0.05). Very few students (3.6%) hadalready taken the vaccine with no significant difference between the two Universities (p=0.399). In conclusion,the knowledge and attitude of the respondents were high and positive, respectively. Only few students took HPVvaccination. Thus, more awareness campaigns and HPV vaccination services should be provided at universities’campuses with the price of the HPV vaccine reduced for the students.