Role of education
In 2004, a pan-Canadian forum on cervical cancer prevention and control recognized that in Canada and elsewhere, public awareness and knowledge about HPV infection is low especially among young, sexually active women at highest risk for infection:
- 87% of Toronto high school students had not heard of HPV, fewer than half identified it as a prevalent sexually transmitted infection (STI), nearly one-third confused HPV with HIV, and few were aware of its causal role in cervical cancer.
- Findings from other countries and older populations indicate that poor knowledge about the existence, prevention, transmission, symptoms, and consequences of HPV infection is widespread.
Although school sex education classes are a major source of STI information, adolescents have indicated that, compared with other STIs, they were taught the least about HPV. School health educators and health-care providers have identified a need for more information to effectively deliver HPV education.
The American Cancer Society has determined that less than a third of men and women in the general population have ever heard of HPV; of those who have, few are aware of its association with cervical cancer. More than half of American women surveyed at universities who know about HPV do not know how it is transmitted. In addition, women may overestimate the likelihood that HPV can lead to cervical cancer, be confused about how a Pap test can be normal if HPV is present, or have difficulty understanding the distinctions between high-risk and low-risk types of the virus.
Clearly there is need for more education about HPV to enable people to understand this disease and its consequences.
