Immunisation-related knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Background: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it was reported in 1995 that the routine coverage for BCG was as low as 47%, and that it was 27% for DPT3, 28% for OPV3 and 39% for measles vaccine. The trend also was declining unevenly. This study aimed to determine the reasons for such low coverage, examining the socio-demographic characteristics of mothers and health system factors such as health services barriers. It further sought to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers associated with routine immunisation. Methods: In 1999, a cross-sectional household survey applied a systematic sampling technique in a sample of eight out of the 22 health zones that then served the population of Kinshasa. These were dichotomised into low-and high-coverage health zones, based on BCG immunisation coverage. Mothers of children aged from zero to four years were the respondents to a standardised questionnaire. Results: A total of 1 613 children aged zero to four years participated in the study. Awareness of immunisation and its importance in protecting a child against diseases was universal, although most mothers could not tell exactly against which diseases. Mothers had positive attitudes towards immunisation (98%). Coverage based on the immunisation card, however, was as low as 37%, indicating a discrepancy between the high level of knowledge and positive attitudes, with the observed low immunisation coverage. The father's education and the mother's experience of an EPI-targeted disease in the family emerged as significant predictors of complete immunisation of the child. The father's involvement and the mother's ability to cite signs of severity of EPI diseases were associated with the child's vaccination status in the high-coverage health zone. The mother's vaccine-related knowledge was a predictor of immunisation status only in the low-coverage zone. Conclusion: Different factors determine the complete vaccination status, depending on whether the child lives in a zone with low or high routine EPI coverage. For example, the father's involvement is associated with the child's vaccination status in the highcoverage zone, but not in the low-coverage zone. Programmes and policy makers should take these factors into account when designing strategies to increase immunisation coverage. This article has been peer reviewed. Full text available at www.safpj.co.za

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Mothers Towards Immunization of Infants in Health Centres at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“…This is similar to the study done in Kinshasa, Congo; showed that 93.8% of respondents had positive attitude about children immunization and 93.5% of them had friendly seen the health personnel [12]. Despite the fact that respondents had positive attitude towards the EPI program and vaccine providers in general, a large proportion 47.6% of mothers believed that infants took too many vaccines and 73.2% of mothers believed that vaccines are given for infants to prevent non serious (simple) diseases.…”

“…In this study, 542(86.6%) of mothers have heard information about infant immunization, and 261(48.2%) of them have accesses of information from health professionals. Similarly, study participants included in other study areas have got information primarily from health professionals [11,12]. This is due to the fact that vaccination information are usually given for mothers by health professional just before infants/ children taking vaccines with each immunization sessions or at the time of antenatal checkups.…”

What do parents think? Knowledge and awareness about newer vaccines: a cross-sectional study in South Indian city

“…3,12 In contrast to our finding, Mapatano MA et al showed that the age of the mother does not influence the immunization status of the child and Zahrani JA showed that younger mothers (<30 years) showed higher significant total knowledge score about vaccination. 5,13 In this study, it was found that there is no difference in the level of knowledge among parents with 1 and 2 children. Parents with 3 children were found to have better knowledge (p<0.05), but as the sample is small, this result cannot be considered statistically significant.…”

“…These results are similar to the studies by Mony PK et al and Mapatano MA et al where awareness regarding vaccine availability was moderate, but the knowledge regarding dosage schedule and diseases prevented was low. 4,5 In this study, though 40% parents have heard about cervical cancer vaccine, only 15% of them had knowledge regarding the vaccine and knew about the human papilloma virus. Similar results have been shown by Tang CW et al in Taiwan where only 13% had heard of the HPV vaccine.…”

“…2,3,7,13,14 In contrast, studies by Garrido C et al and Mapatano MA et al, showed that parental education does not influence the awareness regarding vaccination. 15,5 Study findings show a significant association between the parent's age (both fathers and mothers) and vaccination awareness among them. Parents more than 35 years of age had a better awareness regarding vaccines than 25-35 year age group.…”