Acceptance of a malaria vaccine by caregivers of sick children in Kenya

Abstract

BackgroundSeveral malaria vaccines are currently in clinical trials and are expected to provide an improved strategy for malaria control. Prior to introduction of a new vaccine, policymakers must consider the socio cultural environment of the region to ensure widespread community approval. This study investigated the acceptance of a malaria vaccine by child caregivers and analysed factors that influence these.MethodsInterviews from a standard questionnaire were conducted with 2,003 caregivers at 695 randomly selected health facilities across Kenya during the Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2010. Multinomial regression of quantitative data was conducted using STATA to analyse determinants of caregivers accepting malaria vaccination of their child.ResultsMothers represented 90% of caregivers interviewed who brought their child to the health facility, and 77% of caregivers were 20-34 years old. Overall, 88% of respondents indicated that they would accept a malaria vaccine, both for a child in their community and their own child. Approval for a vaccine was highest in malaria-endemic Nyanza Province at 98.9%, and lowest in the seasonal transmission area of North Eastern Province at 23%. Although 94% of respondents who had attended at least some school reported they would accept the vaccine for a child, only 56% of those who had never attended school would do so. The likelihood of accepting one’s own child to be immunized was correlated with province, satisfaction with health care services in the facility attended, age of the caregiver, and level of education.ConclusionsResults from this study indicate a need for targeted messages and education on a malaria vaccine, particularly for residents of regions where acceptance is low, older caregivers, and those with low literacy and school-attendance levels. This study provides critical evidence to inform policy for a new malaria vaccine that will support its timely and comprehensive uptake in Kenya.

Current challenges and proposed solutions to the effective implementation of the RTS, S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine Program in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

“…Three of these 8 studies had an exclusively qualitative design involving in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, semi-structured observations and exit interviews [8–10]. One study was exclusively observational, involving exit interviews [11]. Three of the eight studies used mixed methods: one combined a randomized trial with a qualitative design [12] and two combined cross-sectional and qualitative designs [13,14].…”

“…The single randomized trial was of good quality [12] (S3 Table). Regarding studies with observational designs, two were of good quality [13,14] and one was of fair quality [11] (S4 Table).…”

“…Six studies reported an overall positive acceptance to the introduction of the malaria vaccine from the study participants [8–11,13,14]. Only two of these six studies reported numeric vaccine acceptance rates of 84.2% [14] and 88% [11] respectively, giving a mean vaccine acceptance rate of 86.1% (95% CI: 62.0–110.2, n = 2).…”

“…Fear of the vaccine’s side effects was reported as a challenge by 62.5% of the studies (n = 5) [8–11,14].…”

Awareness, perceptions and intent to comply with the prospective malaria vaccine in parts of South Eastern Nigeria

“…Significant successes for vaccination against malaria have been recorded on experimental studies in rodents, monkeys and human subjects in which attenuated sporozoites induced sterile protective immunity [ 7 ]. Hence, several malaria vaccines are currently in clinical trials and are expected to provide an improved strategy for malaria control [ 9 ]. Specifically, the RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate is undergoing clinical trials among children in three sub Saharan African countries [ 10 , 11 ].…”