Peer-reviewed article
HPV prevention awareness, vaccination willingness, and vaccine-related perceptions among middle-school girls in three Arab countries: an exploratory online survey.
Ibrahim FM, Ibrahim AM, Dabou EAR, Elhameed SA, Hanson V ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study surveyed 300 middle-school girls across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates about their knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer, and their willingness to receive HPV vaccination. Only about 30% of girls had heard of HPV and about 34% knew about cervical cancer, but 66% said they would accept free HPV vaccination. School nurses were the main source of HPV information. The researchers call for better, culturally appropriate school-based education about HPV prevention in these countries.
Key points
- Only 29.7% of participants had heard of HPV and 34.3% had heard of cervical cancer
- 44% had heard of HPV vaccine and 35.3% reported previous vaccination
- 65.7% expressed willingness to accept free HPV vaccination despite limited awareness
- School nurses were the most common HPV information source (52.2% of those who named a source)
- Most girls responded neutrally or disagreed with negatively-worded vaccine-distrust statements rather than endorsing vaccine concerns
Limitations
This was an exploratory survey with small, non-representative samples recruited through snowball sampling rather than random selection, so findings cannot be generalised to all middle-school girls in these countries. The study measured stated willingness and awareness but not actual vaccination rates or whether girls subsequently received the vaccine.
Abstract
Background Cervical cancer is largely preventable through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, screening, and timely treatment; however, adolescent HPV literacy remains inconsistent. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have different publicly documented HPV-vaccination and cervical-screening contexts. This study explored HPV and cervical cancer prevention awareness, selected Health Belief Model-informed beliefs, vaccination willingness, and vaccine-related perceptions among middle-school girls in these countries. Methods An exploratory online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 300 students, with equal quota-like groups of 100 per country recruited through non-probability snowball sampling. Analyses were primarily descriptive; one complete-case exploratory logistic model examined factors associated with willingness to accept free HPV vaccination. Results Overall, 89/300 participants (29.7%) had heard of HPV, 103/300 (34.3%) had heard of cervical cancer, and 49/300 (16.3%) were aware of cervical screening. School nurses were the most frequently reported HPV information source among source-item respondents (47/90; 52.2%). HPV-vaccine awareness was reported by 131/298 participants (44.0%), previous vaccination by 106/300 (35.3%), and willingness to accept free vaccination by 197/300 (65.7%). Responses to five negatively worded vaccine-perception items were predominantly neutral or reflected disagreement rather than consistent endorsement of distrust. The exploratory model generated several inverse associations with willingness, but these estimates are sample-specific and hypothesis-generating. Conclusion Prevention awareness was limited despite relatively high stated willingness to accept free vaccination. The findings support culturally adapted, school-linked education and representative studies using validated measures, parent-linked information, and verified vaccination records.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Online educational survey with assessment of HPV knowledge, cervical cancer awareness, and vaccine-related perceptions
- Population
- 300 middle-school girls (quota of 100 per country) from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, recruited through non-probability snowball sampling
Key finding
29.7% (89/300) had heard of HPV