INEQUITY IN CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS OF PESHAWAR

Authors

  • Mohammad Naeem
  • Muhammad Zia Ul Islam Khan
  • Muhammad Adil
  • Syed Hussain Abbas
  • Muhammad Usman Khan
  • Ayasha Khan
  • Syeda Maria Naz

Abstract

Background: Purpose of this study was to find coverage of vaccines in EPI and compare the factorsrelated to vaccine failure or missed vaccination in urban and rural areas of Peshawar. Methods: Thiscross-sectional survey was conducted in Urban and rural of Peshawar from 20th to 31st of June 2010. Aquestionnaire was used to interview parents of 548 children, aged 1 year and below, aboutdemographics, vaccination status, reasons for missed vaccination and views on immunization. Resultsfrom both urban and rural areas were compared to find the impact of different factors on immunizationfailure. Results: The immunization coverage in urban areas was 76.5% while in rural areas it was48.8%. Causes for non immunization were different in urban and rural areas. In urban areas, lack ofawareness and care takers/parents being busy were the main reason for non immunization. In ruralareas, in addition to formers, lack of accessibility to health centres and misconceptions aboutvaccination were major reasons for non-immunization. Parents were more educated in urban areas thanrural areas. Conclusion: Rural areas had a lower immunization rates due to lack of awareness, lowaccessibility and much lower education of parents.Keywords: EPI Pakistan, children, immunization, urban, rural

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Published

2011-09-01

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