Introduction

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a leading cause of notorious diseases affecting humans. Students in medical laboratory science disciplines are a population group at high risk of being infected with HPV.

Aim

To assess the knowledge of HPV, HPV-induced cancers, and HPV vaccine among university students in laboratory science disciplines, studying at the Federal University, Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria.

Material and methods

A cross-sectional survey of 150 students in laboratory science disciplines at the Federal University, Birnin Kebbi was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire obtaining information on their socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge of HPV, HPV-induced cancers, and HPV vaccine. Collected data was analysed using SPSS version 20 software.

Results

The majority (52.7%) of the respondents were females. Only 45.3% of them had ever heard of HPV, of whom 26.5% (n = 68) found out about it from internet sources. No significant relationship (p > 0.05) exists between the socio-demographic attributes of the respondents and their awareness of HPV, except for their course of study (p = 0.009). Furthermore, an in-depth assessment of knowledge of these respondents (n = 68) shows that they have huge knowledge gaps on HPV, HPV-induced cancers, and HPV vaccine. Furthermore, there exists statistically significant associations between gender of respondents and their knowledge of: “transmissibility of HPV through sexual intercourse”, “magnitude of risk of having multiple sexual partners”, “extent of protection offered by HPV vaccination”, and “clearance of HPV infections” (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

There is a need for school-based education programs targeted at educating students on the prevention strategies that are needed to be HPV free.