HPV non-vaccination inequalities in Brazilian girls: National Survey of School Health, 2019

Abstract

This study aims to assess socioeconomic inequalities in non-vaccination against HPV, according to area of residence, maternal education, wealth index and Brazilian federation units among Brazilian adolescent girls. Cross--sectional study using data from a school-based survey carried out in 2019 in Brazil. The outcome was the percentage of non-vaccination against HPV. To investigate inequalities, we included the following stratifiers: area of residence, maternal education, wealth index, and federation units of the country. The sample comprises 80,788 girls. The prevalence of non-vaccination was 26.4%, which varied widely across the states (from 17.3% to 34.2%). We did not find any marked inequalities at the national level. While, across the states, we found a higher prevalence of non-vaccination against HPV in rural areas. Regarding wealth and maternal education, results change according to state. Our findings reinforce the need to monitor inequalities at a disaggregated level so that educational actions and public health poli-cies can be developed according to the specificities of each location.