Knowledge,Attitude and Practices towards measles vaccination amongst caretakers of children 12-23 months in Kiboga district.

Abstract

Introduction Despite the various endless efforts that have been attributed towards child immunization, specifically measles vaccination, many infant lives are still being lost especially in rural areas. Understanding the caretaker’s knowledge, attitude and practices towards measles vaccination is important for the achievement of the immunization approach. Objective To describe the level, the knowledge and attitude towards measles vaccination among caretakers with children aged 12-23 months. Method This was a cross-sectional study, employing quantitative data collection methods. Quantitatively, the study used a structured questionnaire among caretakers with children 12-23 months. The study was conducted among a randomly selected sample of 149 households in Kiboga district. A random sampling procedure strategy was used to select the participating households. Uni variate analysis was done to analyse the data. Results. More than three quarters (76%) of the children in the study were vaccinated against. All the respondents were aware of measles vaccination and 95% of them knew about measles vaccination from the media.A fifth (20%) of the respondents reported that at least one of their children had suffered from measles in the past six months. Respondents who had attained O-level education (p=0.001), those who knew about measles vaccination from the media (p=0.001) or health workers (p=0.0001), and respondents who agreed that measles vaccination is important (p=0.027) had higher proportions of children who had received the measles vaccine. Conclusion: The study reveals that majority of residents in Kiboga were aware of measles immunization, but still some proportion hadn’t taken their children for measles vaccination