Maternal Education and Immunization Status Among Children in Kenya

Abstract

Child morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases continues to be a major threat and public health concern worldwide. Although global vaccination coverage reached 90 % for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) across 129 countries, Kenya and other sub-Saharan countries continue to experience under-vaccination. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between maternal education and child immunization (12-23 months) in Kenya. This study used retrospective cross-sectional data from the 2008-2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey for women aged 15-49, who had children aged 12-23 months, and who answered questions about vaccination in the survey (n = 1,707). The majority of the children had received vaccinations, with 77 % for poliomyelitis, 74 % for measles, 94 % for tuberculosis, and 91 % for diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), and tetanus. After adjusting for other covariates, women with primary, secondary, and college/university education were between 2.21 (p < 0.01) and 9.10 (p < 0.001) times more likely to immunize their children than those who had less than a primary education. Maternal education is clearly crucial in ensuring good health outcomes among children, and integrating immunization knowledge with maternal and child health services is imperative. More research is needed to identify factors influencing immunization decisions among less-educated women in Kenya.

Determinants of inequality in the up-to-date fully immunization coverage among children aged 24–35 months: Evidence from Zhejiang province, East China

“…Mother's education have been frequently considered as a determinant of child health indicators in many countries. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] These studies indicated that the educated mothers could be able to enhance the childhood survival through their level of education, which is not surprising in the context of Zhejiang province. In fact, we had found a strong link between mother's education and the UTDFI coverage.…”

Meningococcal serogroup B vaccine: Knowledge and acceptability among parents in Italy

“…The positive impact of a higher educational level of parents on children's vaccination status has been confirmed also by other studies. [27][28][29] This survey has several limitations due to the study design. The first is that, since this is a cross-sectional study, it is not possible to establish the causal and temporal direction of association between the outcomes of interest and the predictors.…”

Knowledge on HPV Vaccine and Cervical Cancer Facilitates Vaccine Acceptability among School Teachers in Kitui County, Kenya

“…Kitui County has a poor road network with only 0.3% of roads paved [ 46 ], and is reflective of many other areas in Kenya. This creates challenges in accessing populations and transporting vaccines and health personnel in rural areas [ 60 ]. Pupil absenteeism on the vaccination days is also noted as a major barrier in a study in Tanzania [ 16 ].…”