Uptake of Human Papilloma Virus vaccine among young women living in fishing communities in Wakiso and Mukono districts, Uganda

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a preventable cause of cervical cancer, the
most common cancer among women in Uganda. The Uganda Ministry of Health
included the HPV vaccine in the free routine immunization schedule since
2015. Five years after this policy, we assessed the uptake of the HPV
vaccine and associated socio-demographic factors among young women living
in fishing communities in Central Uganda in 2020. We analyzed secondary
data from 94 young women aged 9–25 years who were recruited from the two
fishing communities (Kasenyi landing site and Koome Island) in a primary
implementation study that aimed to promote awareness of maternal and
childhood vaccines. We assessed uptake of the HPV vaccine as the
proportion of participants who self-reported to have ever received at
least one dose of the HPV vaccine. We assessed the socio-demographic
factors associated with HPV vaccine uptake using a modified Poisson
regression model adjusted for clustering by study site in STATA version
17. The mean (standard deviation) age of study participants was 21.1 (3.1)
years and most (81.9%) of them were from Kasenyi landing site. The uptake
of the HPV vaccine was 10.6% [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 5.6,
18.9].  After adjusting for covariates, being 20–25 years old
(adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 0.18, 95%CI 0.06, 0.59) and of Catholic
religion (aPR 5.55, 95%CI 1.53, 20.16) were significantly associated with
HPV vaccine uptake. The HPV vaccine uptake was very low, despite the
reported 99% national coverage of HPV vaccination program for the first
dose at the end of 2019. Age and religion were shown to be important
determinants of the HPV vaccine uptake. Reasons for very low uptake of HPV
vaccinations need to be carefully assessed to find effective strategies to
improve it.