Evaluating mothers knowledge and attitude as a contributing factor to the low childhood immunization uptake in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Childhood immunization remains one of the most important and cost-effective public health interventions that reduces both morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases in children yet it is still underutilized. The study assessed the level of knowledge and attitude of mothers towards childhood immunization. This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study involving 141 mothers that brought their babies for vaccination at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Abakaliki, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using SPPS version 23. Only 40 (28.8%) had good knowledge of childhood immunization. Positive attitude towards immunization was seen in 139 (98.6%) mothers. 101 (71.6%) had missed vaccination appointments for their child with the far immunization center (50.0%) being the main reason given by the respondents. Age, parity of respondents, number of living children, educational status, and place of residence were significantly associated with knowledge of childhood immunization among the study participants (p<0.05). Majority of the mothers had poor knowledge of childhood immunization. Maternal educational status was a positive and the only significant (p<0.05) predictor of good knowledge of childhood immunization. It is recommended that information on immunization be taken to the door step of every mother, while intensifying optimized routine immunization sessions to daily vaccination at fixed post as well as integration of routine immunization with other health services. Key words: Attitude, childhood, immunization, knowledge, maternal.