Hepatitis B infection and vaccination in southern Vietnam: Knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to pay among the general population

Abstract

Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of the general population regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, their association with sociodemographic factors, and the community’s willingness to pay for hepatitis B vaccination.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to March 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 1 098 adults who were recruited via nonprobability convenience sampling. Descriptive analysis was conducted to calculate the frequencies and percentages of the categorical variables. A Chi-square test was carried out to explore the association between the independent and categorical dependent variables.

Results: A total of 926 complete questionnaires were returned and included in the analysis. Among the participants, 524 (56.6%) exhibited good knowledge about HBV infection and vaccination, while 651 (70.3%) showed positive attitudes toward the issues of interest. The factors associated with knowledge and attitudes were household incomes, health insurance, family history of HBV infection, vaccination intention, reasons for nonvaccination, sources of HBV information, and awareness of immunization programs and vaccination sites.

Conclusions: Although most participants had limited knowledge of HBV symptoms and transmission, their attitudes toward vaccination remained positive. Targeted national strategies and intervention initiatives are needed since public awareness and attitudes toward the condition greatly impact intervention success.

Keywords

Attitude / Hepatitis B virus / Knowledge / Willingness to pay / Vietnam

Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this work declare that they have no competing interests with the publication of this work.

Funding

This research is funded by Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) under grant number 36-2025-44-02.

Authors’ contributions

T.N. developed the theoretical formalism, N.H performed the analytic calculations and performed the numerical simulations. Both B.V. and C.L. authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript. T.N. supervised the project.

Publisher’s note

The Publisher of the Journal remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Edited by Zhang Q, Lei Y, Pan Y

Acknowledgments

We thank the participants who gave us valuable input in the questionnaire development phase that helped us to improve the questionnaire and adapt it for the local population.

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