Abstract
Objective
The study aimed to determine the factors associated with parents? decision of their child participation in a school-based typhoid vaccination program in Lalitpur District, Nepal.
Methods
Following a typhoid vaccination campaign in 2012, a household cross-sectional survey, following a two stage stratified, cluster-sampling strategy. The strata were based on type of school (public/private) and geographic location (urban/rural). Data were collected through a structured questionnaire ensuring standard quality practices. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the effect of socio-economic and behavioral characteristics with participation in the school-based vaccination campaign. The study was approved by Institutional Review Board of International Vaccine Institute and Nepal Health Research Council.
A total of 1,248 interviews were conducted with parents of children from 42 schools with a response rate of 85 percent. The participation in the vaccination campaign was statistically significantly associated with confidence on the organization conducting the vaccination campaign (OR=0.2; 95% CI: 0.1 - 0.7) knowledge of typhoid vaccine preventing the disease (OR=9; 95% CI: 4.2 - 19.7), concern of vaccine related adverse events following vaccination (OR=0.3; 95% CI: 0.2 - 0.6), information on typhoid vaccination campaign (OR=3; 95% CI: 1.9 - 5.0), and receipt of a permission slip for the child to receive the vaccine from school (OR=2; 95% CI: 1.3 - 3.2).
Our results suggest that participation in a school-based vaccination program is associated with knowledge of disease specific vaccine on safety and effectiveness, if the parent was reached effectively by the vaccination teams through information material, and if the population have confidence in the organization that is conducting the vaccination campaign. Our results are consistent with the findings from vaccination programs on typhoid and other vaccines, globally and in Asia on a perceived risk of the disease, knowledge and confidence over vaccines and a set of communication channels by which parents are informed about the vaccine benefits to the target population.
Results
Discussion