Risk factors for delay in age appropriate vaccinations among Gambian children.

Friday, 13th of November 2015

Risk factors for delay in ageappropriate vaccinations among Gambian children.

Odutola A Afolabi MO Ogundare EO LoweJallow YN Worwui A Okebe J Ota MO.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Vaccination has been shown to reduce mortality and morbidity due to vaccine preventable diseases. However these diseases are still responsible for majority of childhood deaths worldwide especially in the developing countries. This may be due to low vaccine coverage or delay in receipt of age appropriate vaccines. We studied the timeliness of routine vaccinations among children aged 1259 months attending infant welfare clinics in semi urban areas of The Gambia a country with high vaccine coverage.

METHODS

A cross sectional survey was conducted in four health centres in the Western Region of the Gambia. Vaccination dates were obtained from health cards and timeliness assessed based on the recommended age ranges for BCG (birth8 weeks) Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus (6 weeks4 months 10 weeks5 months 14 weeks6 months) and measles vaccines (38 weeks12 months). Risk factors for delay in age appropriate vaccinations were determined using logistic regression. Analysis was limited to BCG third dose of Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus (DPT3) and measles vaccines.

RESULTS

Vaccination records of 1154 children were studied. Overall 63.3% (95 % CI 60.666.1%) of the children had a delay in the recommended time to receiving at least one of the studied vaccines. The proportion of children with delayed vaccinations increased from BCG [5.8% (95 % CI 4.57.0%)] to DPT3 [60.4% (95 % CI 57.9%63.0%)] but was comparatively low for the measles vaccine [10.8% (95 % CI 9.1%12.5%)]. Mothers of affected children gave reasons for the delay and their profile correlated with type of occupation place of birth and mode of transportation to the health facilities.

CONCLUSION

Despite high vaccination coverage reported in The Gambia a significant proportion of the children vaccines were delayed for reasons related to health services as well as profile of mothers. These findings are likely to obtain in several countries replique omega and should be addressed by programme managers in order to improve and optimize the impact of the immunization coverage rates.