Mothers’ knowledge and utilization of non-routine childhood immunisation in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo state, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Vaccinepreventable- diseases are major contributors to child mortality in Africa. In Nigeria, apart from the routine childhood vaccines  that are provided free by the government, there are additional lifesaving non-routine vaccines like Rotavirus, Pneumococcal Conjugate (PCV),  Varicella, Cerebrospinal meningitis, and Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccines. Until 2015 when PCV was included in the routine childhood  immunisation, these five vaccines were optional and parents paid to immunize their children with them.
Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and utilization of nonroutine immunisations among mothers.
Methodology: A descriptive, cross -sectional study conducted in three infant welfare clinics purposively selected in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. Participants were 110 mothers of children aged 6-24 months. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection and analysis done using SPSS version 20.0. Descriptive statistics were computed and Chi-square test was used for investigating association between  categorical variables at 0.05 level of significance.
Results: The findings revealed that 62 (56.4%) of the 110 mothers were aware of non-routine immunisation of which 23 (20.9%) had good knowledge about it. Only 23 (20.9%) of their children were immunized with all the nonroutine vaccines. High income, higher level of education and good knowledge level about non-routine immunisation of mothers were associated with the utilization of all non-routine immunisation among their children (p<0.01).
Conclusion: Knowledge of mothers about non-routine immunisation was poor and uptake of the vaccines among their children low. Health  education to improve mothers’ knowledge and utilization of non-routine immunisation by their children is recommended.

Keywords: Vaccine-preventablediseases, Children, Optional, Immunisation, Awareness, Uptake, Ibadan, Nigeria