A comparative study to assess awareness, perception and behavior of medical and non- medical college going young adults regarding HPV vaccination

Cervical cancer is the 2nd most common cancer in India but prophylactic HPV vaccination can reduce this burden by 75% as HPV16 and HPV 18 accounts for more than 80% cases of cervical cancer. The success and benefit of cervical control and prevention depends upon its use by public which is again determined by their awareness and perception among people. A few studies which are done to assess the knowledge and perception towards cervical cancer and HPV vaccination showed that there is lack of knowledge and practices among women’s who are the primary consumers of HPV vaccination in India whereas  some other studies shows that in spite of having good knowledge, the vaccination practice is still very low.

If we look at the literature most of the studies have been done on medical grounds which says that the awareness is good among medical students but it is also important to assess the same in non-medical university students so that the gap can be filled using new strategies and medical education program also students can have enhanced awareness after such studies  which can benefit their future health  Keeping all this in mind this study aims to compare the awareness, perception and behavior of college going young adults regarding HPV vaccination.