Factors associated with childhood immunization uptake: a case study of Makindye Division

Abstract

This study examines the factors associated with uptake of childhood immunization, including the interplay of behavioral, socio-economic and demographic factors that influence the degree of responsiveness towards immunization programs. The study utilized secondary data obtained from an immunization survey carried out by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with UNICEF and MakSPH on coverage of immunization, Vitamin A and deworming among children under 5 years of age, but concentrated on coverage of immunization. Both univariate and multivariate approaches were employed in the analysis. The univariate approach involved generating descriptive summaries of both the dependent and independent variables such as frequencies and average percentages of children that were immunized, with similar summaries of background characteristics. The multivariate approach involved employing binary logistic regression technique and generating average effects to ascertain the probability of being immunized given a certain background characteristic, holding all other factors constant. The study revealed that over 70% of the people in Makindye Division had their child receive one or more vaccines. Factors which had a significant association with childhood immunization are: Education level of respondent, religious affiliation of respondent, age and sex of the respondent. People who had a tertiary education level were over 8 times more likely to respond to childhood immunization programs and those who had attained a primary education were over 3 times more likely to respond to childhood immunization programs, as compared to their counterparts who had no education at all (p<0.05). In addition, people aged between 28 to 38 years were over 4 times more likely to respond to childhood immunization programs and those aged above 38 years were over 3 times more likely to respond to childhood immunization programs, as compared to those aged below 28 years (P<0.05). Male respondents were also found to be 4.81 times less likely to have their child immunized. More effort ought to be put into circulating information about childhood immunization programs and making education more affordable to the people of Makindye so as to increase awareness about the availability and benefits of these programs, ultimately encouraging and increasing uptake of childhood immunization.