Participants included parents/caregivers, female students, teachers, religious leaders (seven Christian and two Muslim), and health
workers. Aside from parents in two group discussions (discussed below), these participants had not received any project-related sensitisation. A small monetary incentive (equivalent of 3 USD) was provided to adult participants to compensate them for the time spent during the interview or group discussion. For interviews with teachers, parents, and pupils, different school strata were selected: government urban, government rural, and private schools. When possible, individuals were recruited from the three strata (Table 1). Head teachers assisted in recruiting parents, female students, and teachers; selection Obeticholic Acid cell line TSA HDAC criteria were that these persons would be involved in the actual vaccination program, either as a parent, a student, or a teacher of Year
6 or 12-year-old girls. The girls selected were asked for written assent after their parents/caregivers gave their permission. Two group discussions were held with parents after a cultural dance and drama troupe performed a show on cervical cancer and HPV. We chose nine health facilities at random, representing rural and urban sites and interviewed one health worker in each, exploring the following themes: knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV, HPV vaccine acceptability, views on delivery Astemizole strategies, decision-making, and other experiences with vaccines or school-based health services. When respondents demonstrated no knowledge of cervical cancer, HPV, and/or the HPV vaccine, the interviewer gave a brief, standard explanation
about the planned HPV vaccination project, and then continued with questions. IDIs and GDs were recorded, transcribed and translated into English; the source and/or location of IDI and GD are given after quotations in the main results. Initial coding, which used a list of pre-set codes based on the research themes with further codes added that emerged during repeated readings, was reviewed by a second researcher who conducted the final analysis. The age range of teachers and health workers interviewed was between 19–51 years and 33–55 years respectively. The 54 student respondents had a median age of 12 years and were aged between 11 and 17 years whilst parents were aged between 18 and 59 years. The majority of parents worked as farmers, fisherman or operate small businesses (e.g., food or vegetable sellers). Most had completed primary school; a minority (12/60) had completed secondary school.