Awareness and Perception About Pentavalent Vaccine and Its Determinants Among Women of Reproductive Age Group in North Central Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction of pentavalent vaccine in the year 2012 to Nigerian childhood vaccination programme was adjudged as a major advancement in the field of childhood vaccination. However, efforts made to achieve universal coverage was quite challenging with pockets of outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases in the country. This was attributed to low awareness, perception and low uptake of vaccination. Therefore, the level of awareness and perception of pentavalent vaccines and its determinants among women of reproductive age group in Ilorin West LGA of Kwara state was studied using a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire in January 2013. A community-based descriptive cross-sectional study using multistage sampling technique in Ilorin West local government area of Kwara State was carried out. The Fischer’s formula was used to determine the minimum sample size of 400 while the results were analyzed with EPI INFO version 6 software package. Age, marital status, educational level and occupation are significantly associated with individual awareness and perception on pentavalent vaccine, p< 0.05. A total of 77% of the subjects were aware of the introduction of the vaccines into the National Programme on Immunization while about 92.8% perceived that the vaccine was beneficial. The level of awareness and perception of pentavalent vaccine was high among the age group of 20-39. It was also higher among those with higher level of education, among civil servants and students. The major source of their awareness was health workers. There is therefore a need for improvement of awareness and perception among all categories of women, especially those in the child bearing age, and health workers involved in immunization activities in order to improve this vaccination uptake.

Keywords: Immunization, awareness, perception, pentavalent vaccine, reproductive age group