A missed opportunity: faith leaders and the HPV vaccination effort in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Wosene Berhanu, Simon Yigremachew, Claudia Hanson, Helena Avermark, Adamu Addissie, Sibylle Herzig van Wees

TL;DR
The study explores how faith leaders in Ethiopia could help promote HPV vaccination but face challenges like mistrust and inconsistent information.
Contribution
The study highlights the untapped potential of faith leaders in promoting HPV vaccination through culturally tailored communication.
Findings
Faith leaders face mistrust of Western vaccine aid and inconsistent information.
Culturally relevant materials can help faith leaders become effective HPV vaccination advocates.
Engaging faith leaders can strengthen trust and support cervical cancer elimination goals.
Abstract
Cervical cancer causes morbidity and mortality among women worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is crucial for cervical cancer prevention, yet the vaccination rates remain suboptimal in Ethiopia. Studies identified cultural and religious factors as key barriers. While evidence suggests that faith leaders can effectively promote public health interventions, their potential role in HPV vaccination efforts has largely been overlooked and remains inadequately understood. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of faith leaders in Addis Ababa to identify factors influencing HPV vaccination among girls. This study employed qualitative methods, using in-depth interviews with purposively selected faith leaders. The faith leaders employed by the Inter-Religious Counsel of Ethiopia (IRCE) were excluded. A total of 13 faith…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsVaccine Coverage and Hesitancy · Cervical Cancer and HPV Research · Hepatitis B Virus Studies
