Objective: To assess the immunization coverage of children less than 2 years of age in rural and nomadic population of Balochistan. To assess the knowledge of parents about EPI immunization and find reasons of poor vaccination. Material and methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted in rural population and nomadic tribes located in suburbs of district Zhob, Balochistan. One hundred families of rural areas and 100 families of nomadic tribes were interviewed. Information regarding the vaccination status of children, parents’ knowledge of EPI vaccinationand reasons of not vaccinating children or skipping vaccines were asked and noted. Education status of parents and socioeconomic status was also noted. Results: There were 295 children under 2 year age in the study population with 146 (49.5%) males and 149 (50.5%) females. Among rural population, 25 (16.4%) children were completely vaccinated, 106 (69.7%) children were partially vaccinated and 21 (13.8%) children never received any vaccination. In nomadic population, 10 (7%) children were completely vaccinated, 88 (61.5%) were partially vaccinated and 45 (31.5%) were unvaccinated. There was significant difference between vaccination status of families belonging to rural population versus those of nomadic population (P=0.002). Most common reason of skipping one or more vaccines was lack of knowledge and awareness in 28.8% cases. There was significant association between education status of fathers and mothers with vaccination status of families. Conclusion: Routine immunization of children in rural and nomadic population of Balochistan is dismal. Main culprits are lack of knowledge and awareness, compounded by illiteracy and poor education status of parents.
Published in | American Journal of Pediatrics (Volume 8, Issue 2) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21 |
Page(s) | 115-120 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Immunization, Vaccination, Nomadic Population, Polio, Measles
[1] | Butt M, Mohammad R, Butt E, Butt S, Xiang J. Why have immunization efforts failed to achieve global standards of vaccination uptake and infectious disease control. Risk Manag Health Policy 2020; 13: 111-124. Doi: 10.2147/RHMP.S211170. |
[2] | Khan MA, Akram S, Usman HB. Polio immunization and awareness: a cross-sectional survey in Shangland Swat districts in Pakistan. J Postgrad med inst 2016; 30 (2): 147-51. Available from: http://jpmi.org.pk/index.php/jpmi/article/view/1725. |
[3] | WHO. Immunization. Immunization in the South-East Asia. 2022. https://www.who.int/southeastasia/health-topics/immunization. |
[4] | Saeed R, Hashmi I. Pakistan ranks third globally with the most unvaccinated children: Is the impact of parental perception and attitude on immunizationan essential contributing factor to an unsuccessful vaccination coverage. Cureus 2021; 13 (11): e19751. Doi: 10.7759/cureus. 19751. |
[5] | Khan A, Bibi A, Khan KS, Butt AR, Alvi HA, Naqvi AZ, Mushtaq S, Khan YH, Ahmad N. Routine pediatric vaccination in Paksitan during COVID-19: How can healthcare professionals help? Front Pediatr 2020; 8: 613433. Doi; 3389/fped.2020.613433. |
[6] | Akram S, Khan MA, Rehman A, Shah HBU. Epidemiological characteristics, vaccination coverage and complications in pediatric cases of measles, Zhob Pakistan. BJMHS 2021; 3 (5): 957-63. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352006650_Epidemiological_Characteristics_Vaccination_Coverage_And_Complication_In_Pediatric_Cases_Of_Measles_Zhob. |
[7] | Yazdani AT, Muhammad A, Nisar MI, Khan U, Shafiq Y. Unveiling and addressing implementation barriers to routine immunization in the peri-urban slums of Karachi, Pakistan: a mixed method study. Health Res policy Sys 2021; 19 (Suppl 2): 55. Doi: 10.1186/s12961-021-00691-4. |
[8] | National institute of Population Studies. Key indicators report. In: Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey. 2018. https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/PR109/PR109.pdf. Accessed on 11 Jan, 2022. |
[9] | Ahmed Z, Saeed A, Ahmed E, Ul-Ain Q, Hussain B, Sultan S. Measles outbreak investigation in nomadic population Nasirabad, Balochistan, Pakistan February 2018. Global Biosecurity 2020; 1 (4). Doi: 10.31646/gbio.70. |
[10] | Hsu CH, Rehman S, Bullarad K, Jorba J, Kadir M, Young H, Safdar M et al. Progress towards Poliomyelitis eradication-Pakistan, January 2019-september 2020. Weekly/November 20, 2020/69 (46): 1748-1752. |
[11] | Jamal D, Zaidi S, Husain S, Orr DW, Riaz A, Farrukhi AA, Najmi R. Low vaccination in rural Sindh, Pakistan: A case of refusal, ignorance or access? Vaccine 2020; 38 (30): 4747-4754. Doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.05.018. |
[12] | Murtaza F, Mustafa T, Awan R. Determinants of nonimmunization of children under 5 years of age in Pakistan. J Family Community Med 2016; 23 (1): 32-37. Doi: 10.4103/2230-8229.172231. |
[13] | Khattak FA, Rehman K, Shahzad M, Arif N, Ullah N, Kibria Z et al. Prevalence of parental refusal rate and its associated factors in routine immunization by using WHO vaccine hesitancy tool: A cross-sectional study at district Bannu, KP, Pakistan. Int J Infect Dis 2021; 104: 117-24. Doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.029. |
[14] | Lucyk K, Simmonds KA, Lorenzetti DL, Drews SJ, Svenson LW, Russell ML. The association between influenza vaccination and socioeconomic status in high income countries varies by the measure used: a systematic review. BMC med Res Methadol 2019; 153. Doi: 10.1186/s12874-019-0801-1. |
[15] | World Bank. World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: world Bank; 2013. Available at; https://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/WDI-2013-ebook.pdf. |
APA Style
Sumera Akram, Muhammad Ahmed Khan, Abdul Rehman, Noor-ul-Haq. (2022). Nomadic and Rural Population of Balochistan: Exploring the Pockets of Poor Childhood Immunization in the Most Under-Vaccinated Province of Pakistan. American Journal of Pediatrics, 8(2), 115-120. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21
ACS Style
Sumera Akram; Muhammad Ahmed Khan; Abdul Rehman; Noor-ul-Haq. Nomadic and Rural Population of Balochistan: Exploring the Pockets of Poor Childhood Immunization in the Most Under-Vaccinated Province of Pakistan. Am. J. Pediatr. 2022, 8(2), 115-120. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21
AMA Style
Sumera Akram, Muhammad Ahmed Khan, Abdul Rehman, Noor-ul-Haq. Nomadic and Rural Population of Balochistan: Exploring the Pockets of Poor Childhood Immunization in the Most Under-Vaccinated Province of Pakistan. Am J Pediatr. 2022;8(2):115-120. doi: 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21
@article{10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21, author = {Sumera Akram and Muhammad Ahmed Khan and Abdul Rehman and Noor-ul-Haq}, title = {Nomadic and Rural Population of Balochistan: Exploring the Pockets of Poor Childhood Immunization in the Most Under-Vaccinated Province of Pakistan}, journal = {American Journal of Pediatrics}, volume = {8}, number = {2}, pages = {115-120}, doi = {10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajp.20220802.21}, abstract = {Objective: To assess the immunization coverage of children less than 2 years of age in rural and nomadic population of Balochistan. To assess the knowledge of parents about EPI immunization and find reasons of poor vaccination. Material and methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted in rural population and nomadic tribes located in suburbs of district Zhob, Balochistan. One hundred families of rural areas and 100 families of nomadic tribes were interviewed. Information regarding the vaccination status of children, parents’ knowledge of EPI vaccinationand reasons of not vaccinating children or skipping vaccines were asked and noted. Education status of parents and socioeconomic status was also noted. Results: There were 295 children under 2 year age in the study population with 146 (49.5%) males and 149 (50.5%) females. Among rural population, 25 (16.4%) children were completely vaccinated, 106 (69.7%) children were partially vaccinated and 21 (13.8%) children never received any vaccination. In nomadic population, 10 (7%) children were completely vaccinated, 88 (61.5%) were partially vaccinated and 45 (31.5%) were unvaccinated. There was significant difference between vaccination status of families belonging to rural population versus those of nomadic population (P=0.002). Most common reason of skipping one or more vaccines was lack of knowledge and awareness in 28.8% cases. There was significant association between education status of fathers and mothers with vaccination status of families. Conclusion: Routine immunization of children in rural and nomadic population of Balochistan is dismal. Main culprits are lack of knowledge and awareness, compounded by illiteracy and poor education status of parents.}, year = {2022} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Nomadic and Rural Population of Balochistan: Exploring the Pockets of Poor Childhood Immunization in the Most Under-Vaccinated Province of Pakistan AU - Sumera Akram AU - Muhammad Ahmed Khan AU - Abdul Rehman AU - Noor-ul-Haq Y1 - 2022/05/31 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21 DO - 10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21 T2 - American Journal of Pediatrics JF - American Journal of Pediatrics JO - American Journal of Pediatrics SP - 115 EP - 120 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2472-0909 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajp.20220802.21 AB - Objective: To assess the immunization coverage of children less than 2 years of age in rural and nomadic population of Balochistan. To assess the knowledge of parents about EPI immunization and find reasons of poor vaccination. Material and methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted in rural population and nomadic tribes located in suburbs of district Zhob, Balochistan. One hundred families of rural areas and 100 families of nomadic tribes were interviewed. Information regarding the vaccination status of children, parents’ knowledge of EPI vaccinationand reasons of not vaccinating children or skipping vaccines were asked and noted. Education status of parents and socioeconomic status was also noted. Results: There were 295 children under 2 year age in the study population with 146 (49.5%) males and 149 (50.5%) females. Among rural population, 25 (16.4%) children were completely vaccinated, 106 (69.7%) children were partially vaccinated and 21 (13.8%) children never received any vaccination. In nomadic population, 10 (7%) children were completely vaccinated, 88 (61.5%) were partially vaccinated and 45 (31.5%) were unvaccinated. There was significant difference between vaccination status of families belonging to rural population versus those of nomadic population (P=0.002). Most common reason of skipping one or more vaccines was lack of knowledge and awareness in 28.8% cases. There was significant association between education status of fathers and mothers with vaccination status of families. Conclusion: Routine immunization of children in rural and nomadic population of Balochistan is dismal. Main culprits are lack of knowledge and awareness, compounded by illiteracy and poor education status of parents. VL - 8 IS - 2 ER -