ASSESSING THE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO LOW COVERAGE OF EXPANDED PROGRAM ON IMMUNIZATION (EPI) IN THE KASENA NANKANA MUNICIPAL OF GHANA

Abstract

Immunization is one of the world’s most cost-effective health interventions that help prevent childhood diseases. However, many infants especially in developing countries are not usually fully vaccinated. This study was conducted to assess the factors contributing to low coverage of expanded program on immunization (EPI) in the Kasena Nankana Municipal of Ghana. The study employed an analytical cross sectional study design. Simple random sampling technique was used to sample the study participants. In all 134 respondents made up of 120 lactating mothers with babies aged 0-23 months and 14 health care workers formed the study population. The analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Windows Version 22.0 and Microsoft Word 2013 and results presented in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings showed that, all the study respondents indicated that they had ever heard of immunization with majority (87.5%) identifying the health centres as their sources of knowledge. Findings further showed that, age of mothers was positively associated with the uptake of immunization of their babies (p ˂ 0.001). Also, 30% of the babies did not have scar present on the right hand of the child which showed most (34%) of the babies to be partially immunized at the time of the study. From the results, majority of the respondents identified side effects of vaccination (81.7%), long distance to the nearest health centre (76.7%) and vaccines out of stock (40.8%) as factors affecting immunization of babies at the study area. The study concluded that, knowledge of lactating mothers concerning immunization was adequate except that the uptake of vaccination among babies was found to be low. The study recommends more health education by healthy workers on importance of immunization at the study place.