Timeliness of childhood vaccine uptake among children attending a tertiary health service facility-based immunisation clinic in Ghana

Abstract

BackgroundChildhood immunisation is a cost-effective activity in health. Immunisation of children has contributed to reducing child morbidity and mortality. In the last two decades, global deaths from vaccine-preventable illnesses have decreased significantly as a result of immunisation. Similar trends have been observed in Ghana following the introduction of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation. The administration of vaccines is based on the period of highest susceptibility among others. Ghana has long used the proportion of children receiving vaccines and the trends in vaccine preventable illness incidence as performance indicators for immunisation. The addition of timeliness of vaccine uptake as an additional performance indicator has been recommended. This study evaluated the timeliness of vaccine uptake among children immunised at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.MethodsThe study was conducted at the Maternal and Child Health clinic of the hospital between February and March 2012. A representative sample of 259 respondents was selected by simple random sampling. Data collection was by a structured questionnaire and included the examination of Child Health records booklet. Data was entered into a Microsoft Office Access database and analysed using Epi Info Version 3.5.1 2008.ResultsThe majority of mothers attended antenatal clinics during pregnancy. An overwhelming majority of babies (98.8%) were delivered in a hospital. About 85% of babies were less than 12 months of age. Mean time taken to reach the clinic was 30 minutes. Vaccine uptake was generally timely for initial vaccines. The proportion of children receiving the vaccines later increased with latter vaccines. Overall, 87.3% of babies received vaccines on time with only 5.3% receiving vaccines beyond 28 days of the scheduled date. Children receiving immunisations services in the same facility as they were born were more likely to receive the BCG vaccine on time.ConclusionsVaccine uptake is mostly timely among respondents in the study. The BCG vaccine in particular was received on time among children born in the same facility as the immunisation clinic. There is the need to further examine the timeliness of vaccine uptake among children delivered outside health facilities in Ghana.

Timeliness of Childhood Vaccine Uptake Among Children Attending Immunoprophylaxis Clinic in Central India

“…However, the proportion of on-time vaccination for BCG and measles were 88.9% and 50.5%, which were comparatively lower as compared to our study. (12) Another study conducted by Holambe VM et al at a tertiary care center of Maharashtra, 66% of the babies presented on time for vaccination, which was similar to our study. (17) In our study, delayed vaccination was more when the age of the mothers were less than 30 years, i.e.…”

“…(12), (13) {Formula n = deff * Np (1-p)/ [d 2 /1.96 *(N-1) +p(1-p)] n= sample size deff = design effect = 1 N = population size = 2500 P = prevalence = 0.873 d= desired precision= 5%}…”

Suboptimal vaccination rates in rural Ghana despite positive caregiver attitudes towards vaccination

“…However, there are also substantial knowledge gaps regarding the benefits of the practice and poor adherence to recommended vaccine schedules, especially beyond the neonatal period. Timeliness of vaccine uptake has been associated with hospital delivery [28], a time when the initial vaccines are given, and, in general, vaccination schedule adherence tends to decrease subsequently with later vaccines [21][22][23] as was found to be the case in our study. Common sources of vaccination awareness were the hospitals/ clinics or the media (radio and television stations) or community announcements with a Public Address System.…”

“…Various studies have identified that adherence to vaccine schedules tend to be highest at birth for hospital deliveries, but subsequently fall due to various factors, including low levels of knowledge of vaccine specific schedules and gaps between awareness and adherence to vaccine schedules [21][22][23]. Due to suboptimal vaccination rates, we aimed to evaluate current knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents and caregivers of children between 1 month and 5 years old in the Barekese subdistrict of Ghana regarding immunizations; through a mixed quantitative-qualitative survey as part of the Barekuma Community Collaborative Development Programme (BCCDP) [24].…”

Paid maternity leave and childhood vaccination uptake: Longitudinal evidence from 20 low-and-middle-income countries

“…Paid maternity leave -defined as "leave that the country guarantees employed women in connection with the birth of a child" -can provide households with the opportunity to vaccinate their children without requiring a tradeoff between providing health care for infants and earning income (Daku et al, 2012). Insufficient paid maternity leave, thus, may contribute to low or delayed vaccination uptake among children (Laryea et al, 2014).…”