Measles immunization coverage and dropout rate on children between 6 months and 14 years in the City of Tshwane, Hammanskraal
Mogotsi, Charmaine Koketso
Measles is a highly contagious virus that can affect the entire population if an effective
immunisation programme is not in place. This study was aimed at determining the
measles immunisation coverage and the dropout rate among children aged between 6
months and 14 years and at assessing factors associated with caregivers’ knowledge
and perception of, and attitude towards the measles immunisation programme. Between
14 May 2018 and 31 July 2018, a descriptive, cross-sectional study design was
conducted using simple random sampling to sample 381 caregivers of children at nine
public health facilities at Tshwane Sub-district 2, Hammanskraal town. Data were
collected by means of a structured questionnaire and observational checklist, and
analysed using IBM SPSS version 23.0. Overall, the measles immunization coverage
was 95.8% (365/381) and the MCV1-MCV2 dropout rate was 4.1%. The association
between educational level and employment status (correlation coefficient=0.157**,
p=0.0002), measles knowledge (correlation coefficient=-0.244**, p=0.000),
immunization importance (correlation coefficient=-0.194**, p=0.000) and measles
vaccine schedule (correlation coefficient=-0.138**, p=0.007) were found to be significant
at p<0.05. The findings in this study revealed that caregivers’ positive attitude towards, and knowledge of measles immunisation programme resulted in high measles
immunisation coverage and low dropout rate. It is recommended that continuous
positive immunisation education about the benefits and importance be emphasized in
order to increase immunisation uptake.
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