Parental migration and childrens timely measles vaccination in rural China: a cross-sectional study.

Tuesday, 7th of June 2016

Trop Med Int Health. 2016 May 3. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12719. [Epub ahead of print]

Parental migration and childrens timely measles vaccination in rural China: a cross-sectional study.

Tang X¹² Geater A² McNeil E² Zhou H¹ Deng Q³ Dong A³ Li Q¹.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

With the rapid economic development in China millions of rural residents are migrating to the cities to gain employment resulting in numerous left-behind children (LBC). Simultaneously outbreaks of measles continue to occur yet the effect of parental migration on childrens vaccination status is largely unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the association between parental migration and childrens timely measles vaccination in rural China after adjusting for family socio-economic status (SES) indicators.

METHODS:

We conducted a cross-sectional survey using multistage sampling among children aged 18 to 54 months in rural Guangxi of China. Information on measles vaccination status was obtained from the childs vaccination certificate and data on SES were collected by interviewing the childs primary guardian. Family SES and vaccination coverage were compared between LBC and non-left-behind children (NLBC) using weighted logistic regression while the delay in vaccination was compared using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

RESULTS:

Of the 1216 study children 46% were LBC and 54% were NLBC. Compared to NLBC the coverage of timely measles vaccination was significantly lower and the median delay period was longer among LBC. After adjusting for SES indicators LBC were significantly more likely to have an untimely vaccination for their first dose of measles vaccine than NLBC (OR=1.33 95% CI=1.02-1.75).

CONCLUSIONS:

Due to the negative effect of parental migration and family SES LBC were more likely to encounter serious delays of measles vaccination in rural China. Optimizing vaccination policies could facilitate timely vaccination among LBC in rural China. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Left-behind children; Parental migration; Socio-economic status; Timelines