Perception and Acceptability of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccination among Women in Panama City, Panama

Background: In 2008, Panama became the first country in Latin America to offer the HPV vaccine at no cost to 10 year-old girls as part of their national immunization program.  Although reported coverage rate is >80% among the intended population, no studies have been published on perception and knowledge of the HPV vaccine among women in Panama.

Methods: Women aged 18-65 with no previous history of cervical cancer were recruited in waiting rooms of three geographically distinct community health clinics in Panama City.  Participants completed a 54 question verbal survey in Spanish.

Results: A total of 345 women responded (92% response rate).  Although 93.3% of respondents had heard of HPV, knowledge of the illness was limited and only 60.2% of respondents had heard of the HPV vaccine.  After a brief orientation about the vaccine 95% of women reported that they would have their daughters vaccinated.

Conclusion:  Despite gaps in knowledge, coverage of the HPV vaccine and acceptability among Panamanian mothers is high. This suggests that removing geographical, structural, and economic barriers to access the vaccine is sufficient to promote acceptance of vaccination among the study population.  Although vaccine acceptability also appears to be high among Latinas in the United States, vaccination coverage continues to be suboptimal, highlighting the importance of policy or structural interventions improving the accessibility and affordability of current HPV vaccine and illustrating the impact of the one’s environment on public health outcomes.