Determinants of Monkeypox Awareness and Vaccination Willingness among Healthcare Workers in Pakistan
Keywords:
Monkeypox, Vaccination, Pakistan, Knowledge, Attitude, PerceptionAbstract
Objective: This study assessed the healthcare workers' knowledge, attitudes, perceptions (KAP), and willingness to vaccinate against Monkeypox in Pakistan.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers (HCWs) aged 22 years and older using a self-administered online survey. Participants were enrolled using convenience and simplified snowball sampling, while non-healthcare workers were excluded. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS software version 26.
RESULTS: A total of 420 participants were included, with a predominance of females (57.1%). Most participants were single (61.4%), university graduates (72.1%), and pharmacists (69.3%) working in the private sector (61.4%) and urban areas (80.7%) of the Sindh region (49.3%). Good knowledge of Monkeypox (Mpox) was observed in 65.7% of participants, with high awareness of the association between Mpox and skin lesions (90.0%) and preventive measures (90.0%). However, only 28.6% were aware of its case-fatality ratio. Predictors of good knowledge included previous awareness of Mpox (aOR 2.24; p<0.001) and concern about Mpox (aOR 2.47; p<0.001), while poor knowledge was associated with being from Sindh (aOR 0.48; p=0.003) or KPK (aOR 0.29; p=0.004). Positive attitudes toward vaccination were associated with being male (aOR 1.91; p = 0.035), working in tertiary care hospitals (aOR 1.86; p = 0.036), and concern about Mpox (aOR 1.95; p = 0.020). Most participants (68.6%) favored free vaccination initiatives.
CONCLUSION: Promoting Monkeypox vaccination among populations may be improved with more deliberate transmission of common information about Mpox among HCWs.
References
Bates BR, Grijalva MJ. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards monkeypox during the 2022 outbreak: An online cross-sectional survey among clinicians in Ohio, USA. J Infect Public Health. 2022; 15(12): 1459-1465.
2. Peng X, Wang B, Li Y. Perceptions and worries about monkeypox, and attitudes towards monkeypox vaccination among medical workers in China: A cross-sectional survey. J Infect Public Health. 2023; 16(3): 346-353.
3. Sardana K, Sachdeva S, Thole A. A Need to Focus on the Atypical Features and Pronounced STD Transmission of Monkey Pox and the Emergent Role of Dermatologists in Breaking its Transmission. Indian J Dermatol. Sep-Oct 2022; 67(5): 556-559. doi: 10.4103/ijd.ijd_611_22
4. Hraib M, Jouni S, Albitar MM, Alaidi S, Alshehabi Z. The outbreak of monkeypox 2022: An overview. Ann Med Surg. 2022; 79: 104069.
5. Sallam M. A-MK, Al-Tammemi AB, Alkurtas M, Mirzaei F, Kareem N, Al-Naimat H et al. Assessing Healthcare Workers' Knowledge and Their Confidence in the Diagnosis and Management of Human Monkeypox: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Middle Eastern Country. Healthcare. 2022; 10: 1722.
6. Organization WH. 2022-23 Mpox (Monkeypox) Outbreak: Global Trends. Accessed March 31, 2024. Available from: https://worldhealthorg.shinyapps.io/mpx_global/#section-fns2.
7. Abdullah, AS, Cancado FA, de Oliveira CA. The emergence of Monkeypox virus, new challenges to the healthcare settings in Pakistan. J Med Virology. 2023; 95(1): e27899.
8. Ata I, Riaz N, Mallhi TH. Monkeypox: A Rising Health Concern in Pakistan and Wake-Up Call for the Government. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2023; 17: e376.
9. Rabaan AA, Al-Shwaikh SA, Alfouzan WA. A Comprehensive Review on Monkeypox Viral Disease with Potential Diagnostics and Therapeutic Options. Biomedicines. 2023; 11(7): 1826.
10. Rehman Au, Bin Naeem S, Faiola A. The prevalence of low health literacy in undergraduate students in Pakistan. Health Inform Libraries J. 2023; 40(1): 103-108.
11. Abdullah MA, Wazir S, Gilani I, Gorar Z, Shaikh BT. The health workforce crisis in Pakistan: a critical review and the way forward. World Health Popul. 2014; 15(3): 4-12.
12. Elnaga HHA, Ahmed MB, Fathi MS, Eissa S. Virtual versus paper-based PBL in a pulmonology course for medical undergraduates. BMC Med Educ. 2023; 23(1): 1-10.
13. SR. S. The case for family medicine in Pakistan. J Pak Med Assoc. 2015; 65: 660–4.
14. Player E SA, Steel N, Rodrigues V. Massive open online courses for continuing professional development of GPs. InnovAiT. 2020; 13: 522–7
15. Kumar N, Ahmed F, Raza MS. Monkeypox cross-sectional survey of knowledge, attitudes, practices, and willingness to vaccinate among university students in Pakistan. Vaccines. 2022; 11(1): 97.
16. Khan S, Akbar SMF, Yahiro T, Al Mahtab M, Kimitsuki K, Nishizono A. Unprecedented rise of monkeypox in Europe and America: Are Asian countries ready for a new outbreak during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic? J Glob Health. 2022; 12
17. Riccò M, Ferraro P, Camisa V. When a neglected tropical disease goes global: Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Italian physicians towards monkeypox, preliminary results. Trop Med Infect Dis. 2022; 7(7): 135.
18. Harapan H, Setiawan AM, Yufika A. Confidence in managing human monkeypox cases in Asia: A cross-sectional survey among general practitioners in Indonesia. Acta tropica. 2020; 206: 105450.
19. Hasan M, Hossain MA, Chowdhury S. Human monkeypox and preparedness of Bangladesh: A knowledge and attitude assessment study among medical doctors. J Infect Public Health. 2023; 16(1): 90-95.
20. Velavan TP, Meyer CG. Monkeypox 2022 outbreak: an update. Trop Med Int Health. 2022; 27(7): 604-605.
21. Gutiérrez A, Rodríguez-Morales A, ÁJ NM. Colombian consensus recommendations for diagnosis, management and treatment of the infection by SARS-COV-2/COVID-19 in health care facilities-Recommendations from expert' s group based and informed on evidence. 2020;
22. Betsch C, Wicker S. Personal attitudes and misconceptions, not official recommendations, guide occupational physicians' vaccination decisions. Vaccine. 2014; 32(35): 4478-4484.
23. Santos AJ, Kislaya I, Machado A, Nunes B. Beliefs and attitudes towards the influenza vaccine in high-risk individuals. Epidemiology & Infection. 2017; 145(9): 1786-1796.
24. Larson H. Vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers and their patients in Europe: A Qualitative Study. ECDC; 2015.
25. MacDonald NE. Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope and determinants. Vaccine. 2015; 33(34): 4161-4164.
26. Riccò M, Ferraro P, Peruzzi S, Balzarini F, Ranzieri S. Mandate or not mandate: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Italian occupational physicians towards SARS-CoV-2 immunization at the beginning of vaccination campaign. Vaccines. 2021; 9(8): 889.
27. Das SK, Bhattarai A, KC S. Sociodemographic determinants of the knowledge and attitude of Nepalese healthcare workers toward human monkeypox: a cross-sectional study. Front Public Health. 2023; 11: 1161234.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the undertaking form or the Terms and Conditions.
When an article is accepted for publication, the author(s) retain the copyright and are required to grant the publisher the right of first publication and other non-exclusive publishing rights to JLUMHS.
Articles published in the Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & health sciences are open access articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial - Share Alike 4.0 License. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. In addition to that users are allowed to remix, tweak and build upon the work non-commercially as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Or, in certain cases it can be stated that all articles and content there in are published under creative commons license unless stated otherwise.
