Abstract
IntroductionRoutine immunization coverage in Nigeria is one of the lowest national coverage rates in the world. The objective of this study was to compare the mother’ characteristics and the child’s Immunization status in some selected rural and urban communities in the North central part of Nigeria.MethodsA descriptive cross sectional study, using a multistage sampling technique to select 600 respondent women with an index child between 0-12 months.ResultsMean age of rural respondents was 31.40±7.21 years and 32.72+6.77 years among urban respondents, though there was no statistically significant difference in age between the 2 locations (p-0.762). One hundred and ninetyseven (65.7%) and 241(80.3%) of rural and urban respondents respectively were aware of immunization, the difference was statistically significant (p-0.016). knowledge in urban areas was better than among rural respondents. There was statistically significant association between respondents age, employment status, mothers' educational status and the child's immunization status (P<0.05), while variables like parity, age at marriage, marital status, No of children, household income and place of index were not statistically associated with immunization status as P>0.05. More than half 179(59.7%) of rural and 207(69.0%) of urban had good practice of immunization though the difference was not statistically significant (p-0.165)ConclusionThe immunization coverage in urban community was better than that of the rural community. The result of this study has clearly indicated that mothers in Nigeria have improved on taking their children for immunization in both rural and urban area compared to previous reports
Highlights
Routine immunization coverage in Nigeria is one of the lowest national coverage rates in the world
There were more educated women in the urban communities compared to the rural communities, and mothers' education was found to be significantly associated with child's immunization status
In Papua New Guinea, It has been observed that higher mother's education was associated with the knowledge of when to start immunizations, the frequency of visits and the diseases prevented by each vaccine [22], which was supported by this study wherein, Higher education attainment was associated with good knowledge about immunization, which was associated with the child been fully immunized
Summary
Routine immunization coverage in Nigeria is one of the lowest national coverage rates in the world. The result of this study has clearly indicated that mothers in Nigeria have improved on taking their children for immunization in both rural and urban area compared to previous reports. It is considered important for improving child survival [4] This is because more than 10 million children in developing countries die every year because they do not access effective interventions such as immunization that could fight common and preventable childhood illnesses. Immunization against vaccination preventable diseases (VPDs) through the expanded programme of Immunization (EPI) is one of the most economical public health interventions available that contributes extensively to achieving the Millennium Development Goal to reduce the mortality rate of children under five by two thirds between 1990 and 2015 [6,7]. Some people lack access to vaccination due to social barriers, lack of information or inspiration to get vaccinated [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
