A study to assess the immunisation status and the factors responsible for incomplete immunization amongst children in urban slums

Abstract

Background: As per the WHO estimates more than a billion children were vaccinated over the last dec-ade. Currently immunization prevents 2-3 million deaths every year. Health is a major economic issue for slum residents. Objectives of the study: To assess the immunisation status and the factors responsible for incomplete immunization amongst children in urban slums. Methods: A list of all slums and the number of households therein was collected from City Municipal Corporation Shivamogga of which 10 slums were selected by simple random sampling all the households in the selected slums were included in the study. Quantitative data were collected from the households of selected slums after taking informed consent using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Infor-mation about immunization of the under five children. Data were analysed by using SPSS software. Results: In this study, among the 247 children studied, 61.94% were fully immunised, 38.05 were par-tially immunised. The most common reason for defaulting vaccination were knowledge (25.5%) followed by illness of the child (14.1%) Conclusion: The availability of better healthcare facilities like government medical college in the prox-imity of these slums has led to good health seeking behaviour among them.