Knowledge and Attitudes

More than two-thirds of respondents had poor knowledge of HPV, cervical cancer, and the HPV vaccine. About half of participants held a favourable attitude toward the HPV vaccine. Fewer than half of participants had good knowledge of the HPV vaccine specifically. Sixty-one percent of respondents had unfavourable attitudes toward HPV vaccination. A little over half of participants had good overall knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV infection. Only 30.45% of participants agreed that HPV increases cervical cancer risk. School-based education alone may be insufficient because social and environmental influences can undermine classroom messages. Negative attitudes were linked to safety concerns, low perceived benefit, and moral objections about early sexual activity. Adolescents lacking knowledge about tobacco-smoke dangers had higher tobacco-use prevalence than knowledgeable adolescents. Poor knowledge about tobacco and secondhand-smoke harms was consistently associated with tobacco use. Poor knowledge was the strongest predictor of HPV vaccine non-uptake. Limited awareness that quitting is difficult was a risk factor in the pooled data and 2019 model. Healthcare workers were the mos…