HPV prevalence among young adult women living with and without HIV in Botswana for future HPV vaccine impact monitoring

In 2015, Botswana introduced quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for girls aged 9–13 years. To establish a baseline HPV prevalence for future HPV vaccine impact monitoring, we evaluated HPV prevalences among the youngest unvaccinated women in Botswana and compared HPV prevalences among women living with HIV (WLHIV) and without HIV.

Women aged 18–22 years were recruited from the University of Botswana and HIV clinics in Gaborone from October 2019–January 2021. Demographic and behavioral characteristics were self-reported during structured interviews; HIV clinical characteristics were abstracted from medical charts. Self-collected vaginal swabs were tested for 28 HPV types using Seegene Anyplex II HPV28. We compared prevalence of any HPV, high risk (HR)-HPV, and quadrivalent HPV vaccine types (HPV6/11/16/18) among WLHIV and women without HIV and evaluated risk factors for prevalence of HR-HPV.

A total of 306 WLHIV and 500 women without HIV were recruited. Compared to women without HIV, WLHIV were more likely to be sexually experienced (86.6% versus 74.4%) and have ≥ 3 lifetime sex partners (55.3% versus 27.8%). All HPV type prevalences were significantly higher among WLHIV compared to women without HIV, including prevalence of any HPV (82.7% versus 63.0%), HR-HPV (72.9% versus 53.8%), and quadrivalent vaccine HPV types (34.3% versus 21.0%). Among WLHIV, there were no differences between those perinatally and non-perinatally infected for HPV prevalences, number of HPV types detected, CD4 count, or viral load.

Over one-third of WLHIV and nearly a quarter of those without HIV had vaccine-type HPV detected. This study supports need for the national HPV vaccination program in Botswana and provides important baseline data for future evaluation of impact of the program.