Objectives To evaluate the knowledge and attitude of specialists towards HPV vaccination.

Methods A Cross-sectional study employing a questionnaire was conducted during the West African College of Surgeons Conference in Dakar in January 2019. 400 questionnaires in English and French were distributed. 275 were returned and 10 were excluded. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data.

Results Of the 265 participants, 147 (55.5%) had been specialists for over 10 years, 24 (9.1%) for less than 3 years. 204 (77.5%) were Christians, 52 (19.6%) were Moslems. 180(67.9%) of the participants responded to the number of HPV vaccine types: 48 (26.7%), 102 (56.7%) and 30 (16.7%) knew of three, two and one HPV vaccine types respectively. Of the 265 participants, 58 (21.9%) have had their children vaccinated while 183 (69.1%) had not. Among those whose children were not vaccinated, 4% claimed it was against their religion, 7% said the vaccines are expensive, 7% were unsure of the possible side effects, 17% were unaware of the vaccine while 65% reported other reasons. A third of the participants had recommended or administered HPV vaccine to any child before, and about half had recommended HPV vaccine to patients, friends or families before. There was a significant association between the respondent’s specialization and knowledge of HPV vaccine (P<0.001) and his willingness to recommend the vaccine to others.

Conclusions There is a need for increased knowledge and awareness among healthcare professionals on HPV vaccination