Correlates of HPV knowledge among low-income minority mothers with a child 9-17 years of age.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of HPV knowledge among low income, minority mothers with a child between the ages of 9-17 y. DESIGN: Women who sought care at a university-based clinic and had at least 1 child aged 9 to 17 years were approached. A total of 638 mothers were recruited. Only those who had heard of HPV were included in the correlation analyses (n = 468). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: HPV knowledge was assessed utilizing a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 20 questions. RESULTS: There were differences between those who had heard of HPV and those who had not. More of those who had not heard of HPV were Hispanic (63%), low-income (89%), and did not graduate high school (59%). Of those who had heard of HPV, the majority did not answer 50% of questions correctly. Few knew the vaccine could prevent genital warts (19.7%). Factors independently associated with HPV knowledge included age, personal history of HPV, cervical dysplasia or cervical cancer, acquiring knowledge from ≥ 2 sources, having known someone with HPV or cervical cancer, having seen a brochure on the vaccine, and having seen an advertisement for the vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge regarding HPV is low among low-income women with children in the target age range for HPV vaccination. Increased awareness should focus on genital warts and other cancers, since this population has virtually no knowledge of other health outcomes related to HPV infection. Educational programs tailored to this population need to be developed to increase vaccination.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding rabies in Filipinos following implementation of the Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Programme.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding rabies in Bohol, Philippines were assessed following introduction of the Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Programme. A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 460 households chosen utilizing the WHO's Expanded Programme on Immunization coverage cluster survey technique with population proportionate to size. Scores for KAP were evaluated using linear regression. The majority of households had heard of rabies (94%); however, specific knowledge of rabies was limited. Only 18% knew to report a suspected rabid dog to the authorities. In multivariate analyses, having known someone with rabies had the greatest effect on knowledge scores. Employment (professional or non-professional) had the greatest effect on attitudes scores, and only the knowledge score was significantly associated with higher practices scores. Several factors, notably, personal experience with rabies, affect KAP in Bohol. The programme should continue to focus on education and include personal accounts to underscore why rabies prevention and control is so important.

Factors associated with dog rabies vaccination in Bhol, Philippines: results of a cross-sectional cluster survey conducted following the island-wide rabies elimination campaign.

The Philippines has a long history of rabies control efforts in their dog populations; however, long-term success of such programmes and the goal of rabies elimination have not yet been realized. The Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Program was developed as an innovative approach to canine rabies control in 2007. The objective of this study was to assess canine rabies vaccination coverage in the owned-dog population in Bohol and to describe factors associated with rabies vaccination 2 years after implementation of the programme. We utilized a cross-sectional cluster survey based on the World Health Organization's Expanded Programme on Immunization coverage survey technique. We sampled 460 households and collected data on 539 dogs residing within these households. Seventy-seven per cent of surveyed households reported owning at least one dog. The human-to-dog ratio was approximately 4 : 1, and the mean number of dogs owned per household was 1.6. Based on this ratio, we calculated an owned-dog population of almost 300 000. Overall, 71% of dogs were reported as having been vaccinated for rabies at some time in their lives; however, only 64% of dogs were reported as having been recently vaccinated. Dogs in our study were young (median age = 24 months). The odds of vaccination increased with increasing age. Dogs aged 12-23 months had 4.6 times the odds of vaccination compared to dogs aged 3-11 months (95% CI 1.8-12.0; P = 0.002). Confinement of the dog both day and night was also associated with increased odds of vaccination (OR = 2.1; 95% CI 0.9-4.9; P = 0.07), and this result approached statistical significance. While the programme is on track to meet its goal of 80% vaccination coverage, educational efforts should focus on the need to confine dogs and vaccinate young dogs.