Improving Rural HPV Vaccination Coverage

In this quarterly communication about our efforts to improve HPV vaccination with rural communities in the United States, we highlight the following:

Upcoming virtual quarterly updates meeting on February 21 featuring Sara Lolley of the American Academy of Pediatrics, register here;
International HPV Awareness Day, including a virtual seminar focused on rural HPV vaccination on February 29, register at stjude.org/IHAD2024;
Recap of the November 2023 quarterly updates meeting;
And more!

February 2024 Quarterly Updates Meeting

Join us on February 21 from 12-1 pm CST for our next rural HPV vaccination quarterly updates meeting.

The meeting will include a presentation from the St. Jude HPV Cancer Prevention Program team discussing progress with the strategies to accomplish the rural action steps. We will be joined by our colleague, Sara Lolley, from the American Association of Pediatrics, who will present their work supporting pediatricians to increase HPV vaccination rates in rural communities.

International HPV Awareness Day 2024
Virtual Seminar Series

The St. Jude HPV Cancer Prevention Program celebrates International HPV Awareness Day on March 4, 2024, with five virtual seminars showcasing strategic initiatives to boost vaccination rates, priority action steps for enhancing vaccination, improving knowledge and best practices among health professionals and administrations in school-settings, existing and emerging strategies to eliminate HPV cancers beginning with cervical cancer, and enhancing HPV vaccination and strategies in childhood cancer survivors.

Register for one or more seminars at stjude.org/IHAD2024.

Rural Reach: Accelerating HPV Vaccination Coverage

February 29, 12-1:15 pm CST

We want to especially direct your attention to the seminar – Rural Reach: Accelerating HPV Vaccination Coverage – on February 29 from 12-1:15 pm CST. The Rural Reach: Accelerating HPV Vaccination Coverage seminar will explore a comprehensive strategy of six priority action steps aimed at enhancing HPV vaccination in rural communities.

This seminar will feature presentations from Dr. William Calo, Dr. Electra Paskett, and Dr. Prajakta Adsul who will discuss the six priority action steps proposed by the Rural Think Tank, strategies to disseminate evidence-based communications, and discuss how an implementation science approach can reduce HPV associated cancer risk among patients from rural communities.

St. Jude Rural HPV Vaccination
Quarterly Updates Meeting, November 2023

The November 29 meeting on improving HPV vaccination coverage in rural areas featured presentations by Dr. Heather Brandt and Cristobal Valdebenito from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Christina (Tina) Turpin from the American Cancer Society (ACS) National HPV Vaccination Roundtable, and Jennifer Nkonga from the ACS Regional Strategy & Implementation Division.

During the discussion, St. Jude underscored efforts to increase HPV vaccination coverage through various strategies. These include offering programming such as webinars, advocating for policy changes, the National Rural Health Day, and the 2023 convening of a group of experts who identified six priority action steps to increase HPV vaccination coverage in rural settings. Of these priority actions, St. Jude is leading those steps to gather existing resources on HPV vaccination and develop training initiatives for providers in rural settings. Eventually, these resources will be disseminated via an online platform linked to the St. Jude rural HPV vaccination webpage.

Tina Turpin shared updates from the ACS National HPV Vaccination Roundtable. Efforts included continued focus on efforts to start HPV vaccination at age 9, provider education series, collection of research articles, and Emerging Leaders Program.

Jen Nkonga shared other ACS initiatives, with a geographic focus on rural HPV vaccination, include the Mountain West HPV Vaccination Project and HPV Cancer Free Texas. These projects aim to reduce disparities in vaccination rates through regional consortiums, quality improvement interventions, and professional education initiatives targeting healthcare providers and community health workers. Lessons learned from these projects will inform future efforts to expand HPV vaccination coverage and address rural healthcare disparities nationwide.

Access the recording of the November meeting here.

The EXCITE Project: Extension Collaboration on Immunization Teaching and Engagement

Have you heard about the EXCITE Project? The EXCITE Project is a collaboration between the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are funding the Cooperative Extension System to address health disparities among rural and other underserved communities. This project has hosted 1,148 vaccination clinics, administered 26,023 vaccinations, and reached more than 18 million people through its efforts. Cooperative Extension has been a major resource for rural communities for more than a hundred years and continues to evolve to better meet the needs of people living in rural areas.

The EXCITE project has achieved success by establishing a nationwide system tailored to local requirements, utilizing trusted messengers, employing various delivery channels (such as social media and vaccination clinics), fostering partnerships with health entities, and providing evidence-based information in accessible formats. These approaches have effectively reduced vaccine hesitancy among rural and medically underserved populations. For instance, the University of Arkansas collaborated with ARcare to educate and empower communities, while the University of Vermont implemented the Farmworker Vaccination Outreach Program as notable examples.

ACS Rural HPV Vaccination Learning Community

The American Cancer Society and National HPV Vaccination Roundtable are offering a 10-month free Rural HPV Vaccination Learning Community beginning in March.

Research shows that rural communities lag 10% behind the national average for HPV vaccination. And HPV vaccination underperforms compared to other ACIP-recommended vaccines, including Tdap and MenACWY. The program is seeking rural healthcare partners to join a learning community focused on improving HPV vaccination among 9–12-year-olds.

Through a series of virtual sessions and peer-based learning, the rural disparities HPV vaccination learning community will use quality improvement and evidence-based interventions to increase vaccine rates. This no-cost, practical how-to model will serve as a forum for health partners to gain knowledge, exchange promising practices, and talk through challenges to increasing HPV vaccinations in rural settings.

Read more about the program here. Register for the learning community at https://forms.office.com/r/q8zfWncCgr. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ashley Lach, HPV Program Manager, American Cancer Society at Ashley.Lach@cancer.org

New Publications focused on Rural HPV Vaccination

Boot Camp Translation using Community-engaged Messaging for Adolescent Vaccination: A Cluster-randomized Trial

Cataldi et al. (2024) published the results of a trial examining the effects of using "boot camp translation" on improving HPV vaccination coverage in rural Colorado counties. Results showed increases in 13-17-year-old HPV vaccination coverage but not for 11-12-year-olds. In addition, no effects from the boot camp translation were observed.

Consumption of Health-related Videos and Human Papillomavirus Awareness: Cross-sectional Analyses of a US National Survey and YouTube from the Urban-Rural Context

Garg et al. (2024) focused on describing trends and patterns in viewing HPV vaccination videos on social media among rural and urban settings. Results showed high levels of consumption among U.S. adults (~60%) and high prevalence in both rural and urban settings with dramatic increases over the five-year period of 2017-2022.

Assessing Barriers to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination in At-risk Rural Communities in Western North Carolina, United States

McNeil et al. (2023) examined barriers to HPV vaccination in rural, western North Carolina among parents and health care providers. Results identified barriers related to knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as well as structural challenges, such as access. The authors found several opportunities to improve HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents in this area.

St. Jude Rural HPV Vaccination Resources

Website: stjude.org/hpvrural
Preventing HPV Cancers in Rural Communities fact sheet
January 2023: St. Jude Rural HPV Vaccination Introductory Meeting recording and materials
March 2023: Improving HPV Cancer Prevention with Rural Communities recording
November 2023: Preventing HPV Cancers with Rural Communities: Updates and Opportunities

recording

Wide Open Spaces articles are available at stjude.org/hpvrural – read the latest article here

About the St. Jude HPV Cancer Prevention Program

The vision of the HPV Cancer Prevention Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a world free of HPV cancers. The program aims to reduce HPV cancer deaths locally and nationally by increasing on-time HPV vaccination coverage through education, promoting best practice models, and strategic partner engagement locally, regionally, and nationally. The program is committed to ensuring equitable access to HPV cancer prevention, which includes a specific focus on geographic disparities in the southeastern United States and in rural communities. Learn more about the St. Jude HPV Cancer Prevention Program at stjude.org/hpv. Contact the program at PreventHPV@stjude.org for more information.