Hepatitis B vaccine birth dose coverage correlates worldwide with rates of institutional deliveries and skilled attendance at birth

Abstract

Background Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection occurs in 90% of infants infected perinatally but is prevented when a hepatitis B vaccine is given within 24 hours of birth (HepB-BD), followed by 2-3 additional doses. Methods Using Spearman's rho correlation coefficients (rho), we analyzed global and regional data to assess correlations between HepB-BD coverage, institutional delivery rates (IDR), skilled birth attendance (SBA) rates, and other potential co-variates. Results Significant correlations were observed worldwide between HepB-BD and SBA rates (rho=0.44, p < 0.001), IDR (rho=0.42, p < 0.001), adult literacy rate (rho=0.37, p=0.003), total health expenditure per capita (rho=0.24, p=0.03) and live births (rho= -0.27, p=0.014). HepB-BD, IDR, and SBA rates were significantly correlated in the World Health Organization African, South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions. Conclusions Increasing IDR and SBA rates, training and supervising staff, increasing community awareness, and using HepB-BD outside the cold chain where needed would increase HepB-BD coverage and prevent chronic infections.

Determinants of Timely Presentation for Birth Dose Vaccination at an Immunization Centre in North-central Nigeria

“…The fact that hospital delivery was associated with timely presentation for vaccination within a day in the current study is consistent with the report from Benin [16] and the Republic of Kiribati [24]. Institutional delivery rates and skilled birth attendance rates have been identified to correlate positively with the HepB-BD in the WHO African region, which further supports our findings of hospital delivery as a key factor for early receipt of vaccination [25]. The current finding however differ from the report from the Gambia [17], where hospital delivery was not associated with timely presentation for vaccination.…”

Vacunación contra el virus de la hepatitis B en recién nacidos de mujeres peruanas participantes de la Encuesta Demográfica y de Salud Familiar, 2016

“…Otro estudio en Papua Nueva Guinea en 2014, también reporta asociación significativa entre la vacunación y parto institucional 16 . Una correlación positiva entre parto institucional y vacunación contra HvB al nacer fue reportada en un estudio ecológico a nivel de países 17 . Estos hallazgos brindan evidencia a nivel ecológico e individual que la promoción del parto institucional mejoraría la cobertura de la vacunación contra HvB al nacer.…”

Mother‐to‐child transmission of hepatitis B: What more needs to be done to eliminate it around the world?

“…A recent study showed timely BDV coverage was positively correlated with institutional delivery rates and skilled birth attendance rates, both worldwide and in the African, South‐East Asian and Western Pacific Regions . A recent multicentre study assessed barriers to timely BDV across 78 health facilities in 5 African countries at various stages of introduction of BDV policy.…”

“…A recent study showed timely BDV coverage was positively correlated with institutional delivery rates and skilled birth attendance rates, both worldwide and in the African, South-East Asian and Western Pacific Regions. 52 A recent multicentre study assessed barriers to timely BDV across 78 health facilities in 5 African countries at various stages of introduction of BDV policy. Amongst the main barriers, the authors identified the lack of outreach programmes to cover out-of-hospital births, BDV given at discharge from health facility, absence of weekend vaccination services and low staff awareness about safety of BDV.…”