Evaluation of primary immunization coverage among children in a rural block of district Rohtak, Haryana, India

Sahil Goyal, Vijay Kumar, Ritika Garg
2017 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health  
Vaccination is the most important preventive and cost-effective intervention to decrease morbidity and mortality rates in children. Every year, vaccination averts an estimated 2-3 million deaths from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and measles. These are all life threatening diseases that disproportionately affect children. An estimated 1.5 million children die annually from diseases that can be prevented by immunization. In the past 50 years, vaccination has saved more lives worldwide than any
more » ... ther medical products or procedures. The objectives of the study were to evaluate primary immunization coverage along with 1st dose of Vitamin-A supplementation coverage, age-appropriate immunization and also to know the reasons for partial or non-immunization among children.Methods: Community-based cross sectional study was conducted among 540 children in the rural area of Rohtak, Haryana during June 2015-May 2016. Information was collected from the mothers regarding immunization status of their children aged 12-23 months old and socio-demographic variables using a semi-structured interview schedule.Results: 395 (73.15%) of 12-23 months old children were fully immunized and the rest 145 (26.85%) were partially immunized. The major reason for drop-out rate was found to be unawareness regarding need for immunization. Immunization coverage was found to be significantly associated with the presence of immunization card and literacy level of mothers.Conclusions: Though the immunization coverage showed improvement through intensive immunization campaigns in recent years, still a lot needs to be done to increase awareness regarding importance of full immunization at the right time as mentioned in the National Immunization schedule (NIS).
doi:10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20171773 fatcat:qjlm5eo3ejeexmaq3dmsc7ouvi