Factors Associated with the Uptake of Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine among Girls Aged 9-14 Years in Buikwe District, Central Uganda

Aim: Cervical cancer is one of the leading global public health concerns. Our study aimed at determining factors associated with the uptake of the HPV vaccine among 451 girls aged 9-14 years. Study Design and Area: We conducted a cross-sectional study that was carried out in the Buikwe district, central Uganda. Methods: The study was conducted using mixed methods. Quantitative data were entered using the Epidata software and exported to Stata 14 for cleaning and analysis. Atlasti 6 software was used in thematic qualitative data analysis. Results: The level of HPV vaccine uptake was 30%. Girls whose mothers/caretakers accessed health information through the health workers (P = 0.004, AOR = 2.68(1.36-5.26), CI = 95%) were more likely to uptake the HPV vaccine than any other in the study population. Mothers/caretakers who are civil servants were more likely to receive the HPV vaccine (P = 0.049, AOR=1.78 (1.00-3.18), CI=95%). Girls whose mothers/caretakers had never heard about HPV vaccines and thought getting vaccinated is not important were less likely to uptake the HPV vaccine (P = 0.000, AOD = 0.31 (0.10-0.89), CI=95%) and (P = 0.000, AOD = 0.12 (0.05-0.28), CI=95%) respectively. Conclusion: The level of HPV vaccine uptake among girls aged 9-14 years remains significantly low at 30%. Vaccine uptake was severely affected by the level of health education - awareness among the mothers/caretakers. There is need for strategies to improve vaccine awareness and uptake among the key stakeholders.