Prevalence and Determinants of HPV Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents in Efoulan Health District Yaoundé

Prevalence and Determinants of HPV Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents in Efoulan Health District Yaoundé | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Prevalence and Determinants of HPV Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents in Efoulan Health District Yaoundé Jules Kehbila, James Fenibe Mbinta, Cyril Jabea Ekabe, Mejianang Ndonjang Joselyne This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7642911/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background Cervical cancer, though preventable, remains the second most common cancer among women in Cameroon, with the majority of cases being linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV Vaccination has been identified as the simplest, most effective way of preventing cervical cancer, yet uptake is low, which could be associated with vaccination hesitancy from parents. Objectives This study aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of HPV vaccine hesitancy among parents in the Efoulan Health District (EHD), Yaoundé. Methods A community-based analytic cross-sectional study was conducted between July and August in EHD, one of the biggest and most populated health districts in Yaoundé. A pretested questionnaire adapted from the WHO’s vaccine hesitancy tool was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sociodemographic data, and results were presented in tables and graphs. A binomial logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with hesitancy, with a p-value set at 0.05. Results Our results revealed 32.5% hesitancy, associated with a moderate level of knowledge about the HPV vaccine but poor understanding of its details. Several sociodemographic factors, including educational level, religion, marital status and history of vaccination, were positively associated with HPV vaccine hesitancy. Furthermore, awareness of HPV and the HPV vaccine was a positive predictor of HPV vaccine hesitancy. Perceived safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, as well as peers' influence, were also associated with hesitancy. Also, the influence of the COVID-19 vaccine, concerns about side effects, pain after injection, lack of trust in health institutions and school-based programs, cultural and religious influences and the cost associated with HPV testing and vaccination, HPV vaccination. Conclusion These results emphasize that interventions must be both context-specific and culturally sensitive to address the complex interplay of perceptions and structural barriers to overcome hesitancy, thus morbidity and mortality associated with cervical cancer. Determinants HPV vaccine Hesitancy Prevalence Parents Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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Yaoundé\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Determinants, HPV vaccine, Hesitancy, Prevalence, Parents","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7642911/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7642911/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eCervical cancer, though preventable, remains the second most common cancer among women in Cameroon, with the majority of cases being linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV Vaccination has been identified as the simplest, most effective way of preventing cervical cancer, yet uptake is low, which could be associated with vaccination hesitancy from parents.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eObjectives\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis study aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of HPV vaccine hesitancy among parents in the Efoulan Health District (EHD), Yaound\u0026eacute;.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA community-based analytic cross-sectional study was conducted between July and August in EHD, one of the biggest and most populated health districts in Yaound\u0026eacute;. A pretested questionnaire adapted from the WHO\u0026rsquo;s vaccine hesitancy tool was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe sociodemographic data, and results were presented in tables and graphs. A binomial logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with hesitancy, with a p-value set at 0.05.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur results revealed 32.5% hesitancy, associated with a moderate level of knowledge about the HPV vaccine but poor understanding of its details. Several sociodemographic factors, including educational level, religion, marital status and history of vaccination, were positively associated with HPV vaccine hesitancy. Furthermore, awareness of HPV and the HPV vaccine was a positive predictor of HPV vaccine hesitancy. Perceived safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, as well as peers' influence, were also associated with hesitancy. Also, the influence of the COVID-19 vaccine, concerns about side effects, pain after injection, lack of trust in health institutions and school-based programs, cultural and religious influences and the cost associated with HPV testing and vaccination, HPV vaccination.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusion\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese results emphasize that interventions must be both context-specific and culturally sensitive to address the complex interplay of perceptions and structural barriers to overcome hesitancy, thus morbidity and mortality associated with cervical cancer.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Prevalence and Determinants of HPV Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents in Efoulan Health District Yaoundé","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-12 03:21:19","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7642911/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"9ca7156a-3ca9-4ff9-894a-6d90cc30cb49","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 12th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-10T11:44:53+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-12 03:21:19","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7642911","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7642911","identity":"rs-7642911","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}