# Text messaging to improve uptake of human papillomavirus vaccination: a study among adolescent girls living with HIV in Kisumu county

## TL;DR

Text messages helped increase HPV vaccine uptake among HIV-positive adolescent girls in Kenya.

## Contribution

Demonstrated that text messaging improves HPV vaccine uptake in a high-risk population.

## Key findings

- 35 out of 151 participants received the first HPV vaccine dose within 6 months.
- Intervention arm had 74.3% vaccination rate versus 25.7% in the control arm.
- Text messaging significantly shortened the time to vaccination.

## Abstract

Despite the availability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, its uptake remains sub-optimal across all the eligible age groups in sub-Saharan Africa countries. The vaccine hesitancy is driven partly by a lack of information regarding the safety and efficacy of the HPV vaccine. This study evaluated the use of text messaging to improve HPV vaccine uptake in most at-risk population of adolescent girls living with HIV.

We enrolled 152 vaccine naïve adolescent girls and randomised them to either an intervention or a control arm. The intervention arm received weekly messages containing information about cervical cancer, HPV and HPV vaccination. The participants were follow-up for 6 months, with their vaccination status recorded at every clinic visit. The difference in the vaccination rates between the intervention and the control arms of the study was analysed using t-test to determine statistical significance.

Of the 151 participants who completed the study, 35 (23.2%) received the first dose of the HPV vaccine by the time the study closed at 6 months. Among these, 9 (25.7%) were respondents in the control arm and 26 (74.3%) in the intervention arm. This difference in HPV vaccine uptake was statistically significant p = 0.001. A Kaplan-Meier plot showed a shorter time to vaccination in the intervention arm compared to the control arm.

The use of short text messaging services is a viable communication channel for sharing information about HPV and HPV vaccination with both parents and adolescent girls. This approach has the potential to improve uptake of HPV vaccination.