Factors influencing utilization of full immunization services among children aged 12 months in Mandera County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Immunization is a crucial component of public health policy aimed at lowering childhood death and illness rates. Without immunization, more than 5 million children per year die from diseases that can be prevented by vaccination. Approximately 27 million infants under the age of one worldwide were not inoculated against measles or tetanus in 2015, despite efforts to enhance immunization programs. Objective: To identify the variables that affect how complete immunization services are used by 12-month-old kids in Mandera County, Kenya.

Methods: Simple random sampling was used in Mandera County to choose 350 caregivers of children who were 12 months old for a cross-sectional study. The respondents' interview locations were carefully chosen sub counties. A researcher-administered questionnaire was used to gather the quantitative data from the caregivers. Prior to data collection, all necessary logistical and ethical issues were resolved. Descriptive and inferential statistics, with a 95% confidence interval and a 0.05 threshold of significance, were used to analyse the data using SPSS version 21.0. To identify the predictors of full immunization coverage, variables that were substantially linked with full immunization coverage at Chi-square were subjected to a second regression analysis.

Results: The study found out that 62.5% of children aged up to 12 months were full immunized. The most common vaccine schedule sought was at 6 weeks. The main hindrance for full immunization was occupation and caregivers’ forgetfulness. Most (50.7%) of the respondents had below average level of knowledge on immunization. A significant number of socio-demographic, socio-cultural, knowledge factors and immunization barriers had a significant statistical association to full immunization coverage

Conclusion: The study concludes that six out ten children aged up to 12 months in Mandera County were fully immunized. This is well below the national average. The overall predictors for full immunization coverage were occupation, relationship to the child, FANC attendance, traditional healers, decision making, ever heard of child immunization and source of information on full immunization coverage. The findings of this study would inform policy makers to craft interventions seeking to increase full immunization coverage. This would prevent more deaths and morbidities associated with vaccine preventable diseases thus improving child outcomes.