title: Assessment of the first HPV vaccination campaign in two northern Italian health districts.
abstract: From December 2008 the Italian region of Lombardy started offering the vaccine against HPV to all schoolgirls aged 12. Many topics like knowledge, organization and acceptability should be addressed. This study investigated the compliance to the first vaccination campaign in two suburbs of Milan and assessed the knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer among the mothers of the recipients and the opinions of the healthcare professionals about the campaign by using anonymous multiple choice questionnaires. Knowledge about HPV among mothers went from 63% to 76% after vaccination. Healthcare professionals gave an average grading of 5.7 (scale 1-10) about organization and management of the campaign. Coverage of the immunization campaign was quite poor: after the first round only 55.3% got vaccinated with the first dose. Knowledge of mothers of the recipients is still to improve, particularly among immigrants and less educated. It is necessary to implement information campaigns to improve knowledge about HPV and the acceptability of the new vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università di Milano Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20052 Monza (Monza e Brianza), Italy. giulia.chadenier@hotmail.it
authors.forename: G M C
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Chadenier
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Colzani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faccini
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Borriello
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bonazzi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000523:psychology; D017589:Immunization Programs; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000276:immunology*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines