Measles vaccination dropout and its associated factors among children aged 15-23 months in Qardho district, Northeastern Somalia: A community-based cross-sectional study

Background

Although childhood vaccination is highly effective in preventing measles infection, dropout from the vaccination schedule remains a significant public health challenge in Low- and Middle-Income countries, including Somalia. There is a paucity of research evidence on the magnitude and the factors contributing to it in the study setting. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude of measles vaccination dropout and its associated factors among children aged 15–23 months in Qardho district, Northeastern, Somalia.

Method

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 372 randomly selected participants who live in Qardho district, Northeastern Somalia. Data were collected using a structured tool developed in an Open Data Kit and exported to Stata version 17.0 for cleaning and analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with children’s dropout from measles vaccination. Adjusted odds ratio at a 95 % confidence interval was used to declare statistically significant associations.

Results

The overall magnitude of measles vaccination dropout was 42.5 % (95 % CI: 37.3, 47.6 %). Children with a birth order of 2–4 (AOR = 3.09, 95 % CI: 1.38, 6.94), and ≥ 5 (AOR = 4.25, 95 % CI: 1.90, 9.48), born to a merchant mother (AOR = 3.63, 95 % CI: 1.64, 8.04), and whose mothers/caregivers had a negative attitude towards vaccination (AOR = 3.82, 95 % CI: 2.18, 6.69) were more likely to dropout from measles vaccination. Children whose mothers attended at least primary level of education (AOR = 0.28, 95 % CI: 0.12, 0.68), whose fathers attended primary education and above (AOR = 0.25, 95 % CI: 0.08, 0.81), and children from middle-income families (AOR = 0.32, 95 % CI: 0.13, 0.79) were less likely to experience measles vaccination dropout.

Conclusion

The findings of this study highlight that two in five children dropped out of the measles vaccine program. Parental educational status, attitude towards vaccination, mother’s occupation, family income and child’s birth order were significantly associated with measles vaccination dropout. Future intervention strategies could focus on promoting a positive attitude towards the vaccine.