Vaccination Coverage and Predictors of Vaccination among Children Aged 12–23 Months in the Pastoralist Communities of Ethiopia: A Mixed Methods Design

TL;DR

This study found that only 25% of children in Ethiopia's pastoralist communities received full vaccinations, with education, mobile phone ownership, and health facility births being key predictors.

Contribution

The study identifies specific predictors of vaccination in pastoralist communities using a mixed methods approach.

Findings

Only 25% of children aged 12–23 months were fully vaccinated.

Mothers with education, mobile phones, ANC visits, and facility births were more likely to have fully vaccinated children.

The dropout rate from Pentavalent-1 to Pentavalent-3 was 2.9%.

Abstract

This study assessed vaccination coverage and its associated factors among children aged 12–23 months in pastoralist Ethiopia. It was conducted in three woredas of the Afar region using a community-based cross-sectional mixed methods design with quantitative and qualitative methods. A total of 413 mothers with children aged 12–23 months participated in the quantitative study via a simple random sampling technique. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with vaccination, and thematic analysis techniques were used for qualitative data. The percentage of patients who received full vaccination was 25%. Based on vaccination card observations, the dropout rate from Pentavalent-1 to Pentavalent-3 was found to be 2.9%. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant associations between mothers and caretakers with formal education, those who owned mobile phones, had antenatal care (ANC) visits, and birthed at a health facility with full vaccination. The overall proportion of full immunization is lower than the target set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The findings suggest that programs and policy makers should prioritize improving the access and enrolment of women and caretakers, promoting mobile phone ownership, and encouraging ANC visits and the promotion of health facility deliveries, as these are associated with higher rates of immunization.

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