Abstract:

Full Immunization (a child having received BCG, 3 doses of oral polio, three doses of pneumococcal conjugate, three doses of pentavalent and measles vaccine) against vaccine preventable diseases reduces deaths of under-fives in developing countries. Zimbabwe records show low full immunization coverage of 69.2% in 2015 and the causalities are poorly understood. We examine factors undermining full immunization coverage among children aged 12-23 months in Chadereka community, Centenary district. We adopted a cross sectional study design using modified cluster sampling method to select study participants. Fifteen systematically selected clusters of 8 children were utilized to determine full immunization coverage. Data collection was done using a pretested structured questionnaire and analysed using excel software. Mothers (n=120) with children (aged 12-23 months) were sampled and history of immunization was extracted from child’s baby card plus mother’s history. We found that 64.2% (95% CI: 53.9-74.5) of study participant had achieved full immunization. Specific vaccine coverage for BCG, three doses of polio, three doses of pneumococcal conjugate, three doses of pentavalent, and measles vaccine were 90.8%, 89.4%, 86.1%, 82.4% and 70% respectively. Source for immunization were health centre (53.5%), outreach services (37%) and hospital (9.5%). Mother’s awareness (p-value 0.0317) and wealth status (p value 0.01592) were the major predictors of full immunization coverage. Reasons given for failure to fully immunize children were obstacles (74.4%), lack of motivation (11.6 %), lack of information (9.3%) and community factors (4.7%). We conclude that improved awareness to mothers and empowering women potentially increase the national full immunization coverage.

Keywords: Full immunization, factors, coverage, vaccine preventable diseases.

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