Knowledge and attitudes of Nigerian final-year pharmacy students towards genital warts and practice regarding human papillomavirus vaccine: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Genital warts are clinical presentations of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The study evaluated the knowledge and attitudes of Nigerian final year pharmacy students towards genital warts and practice regarding the HPV vaccine. Methods: Data for this cross-sectional study were collected from February 2022 to April 2022 with a 31-item structured self-administered questionnaire and analysed using IBM SPSS Version 25.0. Pearson’s Chi-Square was used to test the association between variables. Statistical significance was set as p < 0.05. Results: The study enrolled 620 respondents from 15 universities in Nigeria. Overall, slightly above half of the respondents had good knowledge of genital warts (n=344, 55.5%). More than half of them had favourable attitudes towards genital warts (n=422, 68.1%). Few respondents reported that they had been vaccinated against genital warts (n=12, 1.9%). Conclusion: The study revealed that final year pharmacy students in Nigeria showed good knowledge and favourable attitudes towards genital warts and human HPV prevention, which did not translate into good practice. It highlights the need for interventions that would promote good practices towards genital warts prevention.