Abstract:

The study investigates the relationship between caregivers’ preferred mediums of information about immunization and childhood immunization coverage in Zamfara state, Northern Nigeria. Primary data was collected from 200 caregivers from KauraNamoda, Bakura and Gusau local government areas of the state using a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaires. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools and Binary Logistic regression models. The descriptive result shows that most of the caregivers were between the age of 31 and 50 years (70%) with 96 (48%) having secondary school certificate (high school) has their highest level of education, about 98 (49%) and 23 (12%) preferred information from their traditional and religious leaders respectively, while 20 (10%) preferred information through town criers, 40 (20%) preferred information from the State’s Radio stations, , 6 (3%) through test messages, 5 (3%) through health workers, 5 (3%) through family and 2 (1%) through television. Results from Binary Logistic regression also reveal a positive relationship between these preferred mediums of information about immunization and a potential increase of childhood immunization coverage with a positive coefficient (0.91) that is statistically significant at 5% with a P-Value of 2.52%. This shows that people from this place have more believed and respect for their traditional institutions which are the custodian of culture in these places so culture is been respected in these areas. Therefore, there is a need for policy makers to have more collaboration with traditional institutions during implementation of immunization programmes. The study also shows that media especially radio (20%) can also play an important role in disseminating of information on immunization in these communities. So, in implementing a holistic program on immunization traditional institution (traditional leaders, religious leaders and town criers) with local radio stations should be targeted for information dissemination in order to improve immunization coverage in the State.

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