Human papillomavirus is one of the world’s most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases. Newcomers, who are classified as foreign-born persons who are either immigrants or refugees in Canada, but may also include students and illegal migrants, encounter various hurdles to HPV vaccination. This study intended to identify the challenges and facilitators to HPV vaccination from the perspective of healthcare practitioners, as well as recommendations to enhance HPV vaccine uptake among immigrants. Between March and April of this year, semi-structured interviews were performed with ten healthcare practitioners. A Qualitative Content Analysis method was used to evaluate the data at the manifest level. Access, communication, knowledge, culture, and provider-related issues were among the obstacles to immunisation identified. Targeted health promotion, recognising the need for HPV vaccination, trusting the healthcare system, and cultural sensitivity were all facilitators. Two broad recommendations were made: public funding for the HPV vaccination and more linguistic and culturally relevant health promotion initiatives. 

Further study should be conducted to investigate the informational wishes and requirements of immigrants in order to develop efforts to achieve equitable HPV vaccination coverage.

Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2018.1539604

 

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