Determinants of Incomplete Vaccination Among Children Age 12-23 Months in Southwest Ethiopia: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Many children in the world particularly in low resource countries are still left unvaccinated and it remains to be a public health problem. So, the main objective of this study was to identify determinants of incomplete vaccination among children 12-23 months of age in Semen Bench district, Bench Maji Zone, Southwest Ethiopia, 2018. A community based unmatched case-control study was undertaken among randomly selected children aged 12 to 23 months and with a total sample size of 316 (106 cases and 212 controls). Simple random sampling was used to get representative cases and controls. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to identify independent factors for incomplete immunization status of children. P-values <0.05 was used as cut value. A total of 104 cases from 106 and 208 controls from 212 were selected giving a response rate of 98.2%. Based on the multivariable analysis the incomplete immunization status of children was significantly associated with having no antenatal care visits, [AOR=8.3(95%CI; 1.87-36.91], home delivery [AOR=4.5(95%CI; 1.411-14.27], having no postnatal care visit [AOR=4.2(95%CI; 1.67-10.41], and inconvenient appointment time [AOR=3.44(95% CI:1.65-7.16)]. Children of mothers having no antenatal and postnatal care, having home delivery, and with an inconvenient appointment timewere significantly associated with incomplete vaccination. Therefore, integrating the immunization service to other elements of primary health care is crucial.