Abstract
BackgroundDespite increased funding of measles vaccination programs by national governments and international aid agencies, structural factors encumber attainment of childhood measles immunisation to levels which may guarantee herd immunity. One of such factors is parental education status. Research on the links between parental education and vaccination has typically focused on the influence of maternal education status. This study aims to demonstrate the independent influence of paternal education status on measles immunisation.MethodsComparable nationally representative survey data were obtained from six countries with the highest numbers of children missing the measles vaccine in 2008. Logistic regression analysis was applied to examine the influence of paternal education on uptake of the first dose of measles vaccination, independent of maternal education, whilst controlling for confounding factors such as respondent’s age, urban/rural residence, province/state of residence, religion, wealth and occupation.ResultsThe results of the analysis show that even if a mother is illiterate, having a father with an education of Secondary (high school) schooling and above is statistically significant and positively correlated with the likelihood of a child being vaccinated for measles, in the six countries analysed. Paternal education of secondary or higher level was significantly and independently correlated with measles immunisation uptake after controlling for all potential confounders.ConclusionsThe influence of paternal education status on measles immunisation uptake was investigated and found to be statistically significant in six nations with the biggest gaps in measles immunisation coverage in 2008. This study underscores the imperative of utilising both maternal and paternal education as screening variables to identify children at risk of missing measles vaccination prospectively.
Highlights
Despite increased funding of measles vaccination programs by national governments and international aid agencies, structural factors encumber attainment of childhood measles immunisation to levels which may guarantee herd immunity
Comparable data was accessed from the Demographic Health Survey (DHS); the 2007 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS), the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2005–06, the 2006–07 Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (PDHS), the 2008 Nigeria National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), the 2007 Congo Democratic Republic Demographic Health Survey (EDS-RDC) and the 2005 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS)
These datasets are produced by ORC Macro for the Measure DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) Project, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Summary
Despite increased funding of measles vaccination programs by national governments and international aid agencies, structural factors encumber attainment of childhood measles immunisation to levels which may guarantee herd immunity. One of such factors is parental education status. According to the WHO, by 2008, measles vaccination coverage was 83% globally among children aged 12–23 months old. 700 million children aged between 9 months to 14 years living in high-risk countries, were vaccinated against the disease between 2000 to 2008, and globally measles deaths declined by 78% during this period, indicating that the global measles vaccination campaign successfully averted over 3.6 million deaths [1,2,3].
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
