Factors influencing the first dose of measles vaccination uptake in 42 low- and middle-income countries

Objectives

Vaccination against measles still stands as a highly impactful public health strategy for mitigating childhood morbidity and mortality. Relatively poor immunization coverage among children has been observed in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our study intended to determine socio-demographic factors associated with the 1st dose of measles vaccination among South Asian (SA) and SubSaharan African (SSA) countries children.

Study design

This was a cross-sectional study.

Methods

This study utilized demographic and health survey data from 42 low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in SA and SSA. The children's dataset yielded 255,775 children between the ages of 12 and 59 months. The independent predictors were determined by using crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results

The prevalence of first-dose measles-immunized children was 55.5% for the selected LMICs. The multivariable analysis for combined regions (SA and SSA) showed that parents with a higher level of education, rich wealth quintile, mothers with media access, mothers with more than four antenatal care (ANC) visits and baby postnatal check-up (PNC) within two months were significantly associated with the first dose of measles vaccination among children.

Conclusion

The first dose measles immunization coverage in the selected LMICs was considerably low. To boost the uptake of childhood measles vaccination, public health interventions particularly need to focus on children born to uneducated parents, poor families, and those who have not used health services (ANC and PNC). Financial funding is crucial for establishing mobile vaccination clinics to improve immunization rates among the impoverished.