BARRIERS AND DETERMINANTS OF TIMELY CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION IN QUETTA: A SOCIOECONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This research analyzed how the timeliness of childhood immunization has been influenced in Quetta, Balochistan, and whether the factors promoting childhood immunization timeliness include socio-economic and geographical aspects. Vaccination schedules are important in prevention of the vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs), and the enhancement of the population health. Nevertheless, immunization delays still pose as a big challenge especially in the underdeveloped regions. The two design tasks behind this study are to investigate the effects of mother’s education, household incomes and geographical settings (urban and rural) on timeliness of vaccination. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) An increase in the level of maternal education and household income has a positive correlation with the timely completion of childhood immunization programs, (2) children in rural areas were much slower than children in urban areas with regard to being vaccinated against routine immunization programs. So as to realize these goals, a questionnaire was completed to a sample of 30 people that would cover socio-economic status, geographical location of individuals, and familiarity with the immunization schedules. The hypotheses were tested using statistical analysis such Chi-Square tests. The findings imply that maternal educational level and income have positive association with on-time immunization whereas location seems to have no impact on timely immunization though rural locations are facing the problem of immunization delay. This research can help the process of comprehension of obstacles to timely immunization and can provide the idea of tackling the problem of vaccination in Quetta.