Immunisation services in North‑Eastern Nigeria: Perspectives of critical stakeholders to improve uptake and service delivery

Journal of Public Health in Africa

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Immunisation services in North‑Eastern Nigeria: Perspectives of critical stakeholders to improve uptake and service delivery
 
Creator Omoleke, Semeeh A. Omotara, Babatunji A. Oyeyemi, Adewale L. Beida, Omeiza Etatuvie, Samuel O.
 
Subject — vaccine; immunisation uptake; stakeholders; boko haram insurgency; Borno State; Nigeria
Description We investigated the perspectives of parents, health workers (HWs) and traditional medical practitioners (TMPs) on immunisation advocacy, knowledge, attitudes and immuni‑ sation practice and ways of improving immunisation uptake in Borno State, North‑eastern Nigeria. A cross‑sectional study analysing quantitative data from the three stakeholders' categories. It was conducted across 18 local government areas of Borno State. A representative sample of 4288 stakeholders (n=1763 parents, n=1707 TMPs, and n=818 HWs aged 20 to 59years, had complete data. The sample has more males: 57.8% (Parents); 71.8% (TMPs) and 57.3% (HWs). The awareness of immunisation schedule among the stakeholders ranged from 87.2 to 93.4%. The study showed that 67.9% of the parent and 57.1% of the health workers had participated in immunisation except the TMPs (27.8%). Across the stake‑ holders' categories, between 61.9 and 72.6% have children who had Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI). The most common AEFI was fever. Safety concerns, preference for herbs and charm, culture and religions, and vaccination perception as a western culture were the major barriers to immunisation uptake. While 63.6 to 95.7% of respondents indicated that community leaders, religious and spiritual leaders and TMPs should be involved in immunisation advo‑ cacy, 56.9‑70.4% of them reported that community leaders should be involved in immunisation policy. Upscaling the critical stakeholders' involvement in advocacy, policy devel‑ opment and implementation of immunization activities may improve acceptance, create demand and engender ownership in vulnerable communities of Borno State, Nigeria. AEFI could be detrimental to immunisation access and utilization. Consequently, health education by health workers needs strengthening to minimise vaccine hesitancy.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2023-11-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format application/pdf
Identifier 10.4081/jphia.2023.1807
 
Source Journal of Public Health in Africa; Vol 14, No 11 (2023); 11 2038-9930 2038-9922
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://publichealthinafrica.org/index.php/jphia/article/view/48/51
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Semeeh A. Omoleke, Babatunji A. Omotara, Adewale L. Oyeyemi, Omeiza Beida, Samuel O. Etatuvie https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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