A study on immunisation status of children in 1,000 family planning adopted families.

In a survey, conducted in Tirupati, India, information on the immunization status of the children of a random sample of 1000 family planning acceptors were obtained. The children of all the acceptors were protected against smallpox; however, only 81.5% were protected against polio, 57.2% against tuberculosis, and 10.7% against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus. 863 of the family planning acceptors had adopted temporary family planning methods and 137 had chosen sterilization. 750 of the acceptors had 1-3 children and 250 had 4 or more children. Additional efforts should be made to encourage family planning acceptors to have their children immunized. This would help reduce child morbidity and mortality rates in those families in which the parents have decided to limit family size. Tables showed 1) the number and % of acceptors whose children were immunized for each disease by type of family planning method and 2) the distribution of acceptors by income and by parity.