Knowledge and Awareness of Algerian Students about Cervical Cancer, HPV and HPV Vaccines: A Cross-Sectional Study

Cervical cancer is one of the most recurrent and dangerous female cancers in Algeria and worldwide. It is mainly caused by human papillomaviruses (HPV), which can induce other cancers as well. Although it can be fatal, cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and manageable cancers. While HPV vaccination is the key weapon to win the battle against this pathology, it is still not approved in Algeria. Therefore, we set up a cross-sectional survey to assess the knowledge and awareness of students from Algerian universities concerning cervical cancer and HPV and to understand their attitudes towards HPV vaccination. The results reveal that, out of 715 students, the majority of students were aware of cervical cancer (84.6%). However, only 46.2% of students had heard about HPV. Furthermore, willingness to get the HPV vaccine was estimated at 26.7% among students with prior knowledge of HPV, and 21.5% of these students claimed to be willing to pay to get the HPV vaccine if available. Nevertheless, HPV vaccine hesitancy was estimated at 37.5% among the students aware of HPV. The main causes of HPV vaccine reluctance were: complacency (30.6%), refusal of vaccination in general (20.2%) and belief in the rarity of HPV-induced infections in Algeria (19.4%). Moreover, the embrace of vaccine conspiracy beliefs among students were significantly related with their HPV vaccine rejection. Overall, these findings encourage the establishment of a social education policy concerning the fight against HPV-induced cancers, particularly that of the cervix, and the implementation of a national HPV vaccination program targeting young people.