Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Mothers with Under-Five Children about Immunization

Abstract

Introduction: Vaccines are one of most successful health interventions that bring about significant reduction in infectious diseases and adverse health consequences. In India, The Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) was launched in 1978 and it was re-designated as the Universal Immunization program (UIP) in 1985, with a goal to cover at least 85% of infants. In India 7.4 million children are not immunized. Study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers with under five children about immunization. Material and methods: Research was conducted to determine the knowledge attitude and practice of mothers with underfive children about immunization. A cross sectional study was conducted among mothers having children aged more than two and half years in the field practice area of K.S. Hegde Medical Academy. Data was collected using a pre-tested semi structured questionnaire from 348 mothers during a period of two months. Among the study participants (92) 26% were from urban area and (256) 74% were from rural area. Mothers were the main decision makers regarding vaccination of the child in both urban and rural areas. Results: Majority 99% supported vaccination. Majority 97% of the mothers in both the urban and rural areas believed that vaccines were protective. In the study it was seen that 93% of the mothers had vaccinated their children as per vaccination card and the rest of the mothers were not up to date with vaccinating their children. Only 43%of the mothers were aware of the side effects and 32% knew about contraindications. In this study it was found that 32% of the mothers believed that vaccination could be done even if the child had fever. Only 22% of the mothers were aware of the SMS notification program by the government. Conclusion: In the study the reasons stated by the mothers for not fully vaccinating the child were because of the side effects 44%, difficulty in reaching the center 28% and long crowds 19%.According to our study, majority of the mothers were supportive of immunizing their children but unaware of their contraindications and side effects.