ABSTRACT
Immunization is one of the safest and most effective interventions to prevent disease and early child death. Although, about three quarters of the world's child population is reached with the required vaccines, only half of the children in Sub-Saharan Africa get access to basic immunization. In Nigeria, only 10% of children in the North West geographical region are fully immunized compared to 52% in the South East and South West regions. Immunity gap created by this low immunization coverage in Northern Nigeria favors the emergence and transmission of some vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) especially measles and polio. Knowledge and perception of mothers/caregivers regarding VPDs favour demand and utilization of
immunization services. This study was thus, carried out to assess the knowledge, perception and practices of mothers/caregivers on routine immunization in children aged 12-23 months in Kaduna State, determine the sources of information on routine immunization and other factors
associated with uptake of routine immunization among mothers/caregivers of children aged 12-23 months in Kaduna State A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using multistage sampling technique; 379 eligible mothers/caregivers were recruited. Data collection was done using semi structured interviewer-administered questionnaire to obtain information on socio-demographics, knowledge, perception and practices of mothers/caregivers towards routine immunization and sources of information on routine immunization. Data were analyzed using Epi infoTM version 7. A total of 379 respondents were interviewed. Of these, majority (64.67%) practiced Islam , less than half (41.95%) completed Secondary school while about one-quarter (25.07%) were aged 30-34 years. . In addition, most (64.91%) were unemployed, 92.25% were married while 52.82%
were from rural settlements. Among the children whose mothers/caregivers were interviewed, majority (43.01%) were between aged 16-19months old, 53.30% were females while most (62.80%) fell within the birth order of 2nd -5th child . Only 59 (15.6%) of these children were found to be fully immunized, evidenced by vaccination card history. Furthermore, among the respondents, majority (64.4%) had unsatisfactory knowledge while 55.36% and 54.0% exhibited poor perception and bad practices respectively, regarding routine immunization. Commonest source of information was radio (61.61%). Educational status and good perception of mothers were found to be associated with getting information on routine immunization within 12months prior to this study while Polygamous family setting, unsatisfactory knowledge and bad practices of mothers were independently associated with lack of information on routine immunization. In conclusion the research showed that mother's educational status, family setting, knowledge, perception and practices about immunization are important factors that influence access to routine immunization information which are ultimately predictors of full child immunization. It is therefore recommended that Kaduna state government should create convenient adult
education classes to improve educational status of mothers and be committed to girl-child education. The state should intensify sensitization of mothers/caregivers on routine immunization using radio and television jingles through the Ministry of information to improve their knowledge and utilization of routine immunization service.