Abstract:
Introduction: Low immunization coverage against preventable childhood illness constitutes a major public health concern word wide. Despite the fact that immunization is a cost- effective and life-saving childhood intervention, there are still children mostly in developing countries who are not immunized. In Arusha region of Tanzania, Ngorongoro district is among the areas with low child vaccination coverage. Studies have shown various factors for low vaccination uptake among the parents. Little was known as to why women in Ngorongoro district do not send their children for vaccination. Objective: The main objective of the study was to determine barriers to child vaccination among the women in Ngorongoro district. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study which employed multistage cluster sampling procedure was conducted. A total of 449 mothers of under-five children participated in the study. Structured interviews were used in data generation. Data were analyzed electronically using a software SPSS version 15. Results: All the respondents were aware of the concept of childhood vaccinations. Knowledge of vaccine preventable diseases were limited as only 2.9% of the mothers were able to mention at least three diseases with majority (65.3%) being able to recognize only one disease. A perception that their children were susceptible to such diseases was high; in with 82% of mothers said the risk is high. Acceptability of the childhood vaccinations was not a problem; however vaccination uptake was still low (51.9%). Maternal barriers for child vaccination uptake included also gender dynamics (69.3%), time spent for the service (47%) and language (39.3%). Conclusion: Maternal barriers to childhood vaccinations exist, efforts need to be made to increase vaccination uptake among the mothers. Recommendations: Sufficient information about child vaccination and vaccine preventable diseases should be provided to mothers of under-fives for them to make an informed choice.
