Abstract
Background: Active immunization has been able to turn many childhood diseases into distant memories in industrialized countries. It has been found to be one of the most cost-effective public health interventions. However, immunization coverage has continued to falter in Nigeria due to missed opportunities, non availability of services and probably fears of adverse events that follow immunization. We therefore set out to determine mothers’ knowledge and perception of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in Enugu. Methods: A structured interviewer administered questionnaire was administered to 235 mothers with at least one child < 5 years attending children outpatient clinics. Result: Most mothers (50.1%) had tertiary education, 39.6% and 9.4% had secondary and primary education respectively while 0.9% had no formal education. Five did not know why children were immunized, 188 knew it was to prevent major killer diseases, 33 believed it was to prevent all diseases while 9 believed it was to treat diseases. The knowledge of reason for immunization was significantly associated with maternal educational (p=0.000). Most (89.8%) also knew that the major content of vaccines were chemicals/substances that could help prevent killer diseases. While 1.3% believed vaccines contained harmful materials, 8.9% had no knowledge about the content of vaccines. This was significantly associated with maternal education (p=0.001). Majority (34%) were unable to mention any adverse event, 31.6% mentioned only one adverse event. While, 23.8% mentioned two, 10.6% mentioned three or more AEFI. Eighty percent would continue if their children suffered adverse events, 6% would not continue, 13.6% were undecided and 0.4% did not respond. Conclusion: There is poor maternal knowledge about immunization and the adverse events that could follow immunization. Community participation, and sustained public awareness are needed to erode fears of AEFI.
Highlights
Immunization renders one immune to a disease
Most of the mothers had tertiary or secondary education. This seemingly high literacy level may have influenced the knowledge of the reason for immunizing children. Though this may not reflect the true knowledge of mothers in Enugu as it is a hospital based study, it does show that a better understanding of the reason for immunization is influenced by maternal education
Though a good number of participants heard about adverse events following immunization, there is poor maternal detailed knowledge about adverse events of immunization in Enugu
Summary
It is clear that active immunization has turned many childhood diseases into distant memories in industrialized countries [1] and it has been regarded as the most cost-effective intervention for child health promotion by WHO [2]. Vaccination was one of the 20th century’s most successful methods of disease prevention and eradication. The diseases targeted by routine immunization are all preventable and are among the leading causes of high childhood morbidity and mortality. This is evidenced by the unacceptably high infant mortality rate in developing countries including Nigeria [4]. Active immunization has been able to turn many childhood diseases into distant memories in industrialized countries. We set out to determine mothers’ knowledge and perception of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in Enugu
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