Abstract

Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women and in Uganda, cervical cancer is the leading
cause of cancer deaths in women. A total of 150 respondents were recruited to complete a pretested self-administered
questionnaire through consecutive sampling. Collected data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 25 software.
Chi square was used to get the significant factors at P≤0.05. 40.6% of the respondents exhibited good knowledge
about HPV vaccination while the rest 59.4% exhibited poor knowledge. Seventy percent (70%) of the respondents
exhibited a positive attitude while 30% exhibited a negative attitude. The uptake of HPV vaccine was very low (10%)
and it was associated with urban residence (X2=17.65, P=0.001), being a medical student (X2=6.48, P=0.011), 5th
year of study and awareness about HPV (X2=7.14, P=0.006). The present study found that the general knowledge
about HPV infection and vaccination was low. Although most of the respondents had a positive attitude, actual
uptake was low. Factors associated with HPV vaccine uptake were; urban residence, being a medical student, 5th
year of study and awareness about HPVs