Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 7;22(1):40.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-021-07443-8.

Two decades of regional trends in vaccination completion and coverage among children aged 12-23 months: an analysis of the Uganda Demographic Health Survey data from 1995 to 2016

Gerald Okello  1 , Jonathan Izudi  2 , Immaculate Ampeire  3 , Frehd Nghania  3 , Carine Dochez  4 , Niel Hens  1   5
Affiliations

Two decades of regional trends in vaccination completion and coverage among children aged 12-23 months: an analysis of the Uganda Demographic Health Survey data from 1995 to 2016

Gerald Okello et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Childhood vaccination is an important public health intervention but there is limited information on coverage, trends, and determinants of vaccination completion in Uganda at the regional level. We examined trends in regional vaccination coverage and established the determinants of vaccination completion among children aged 12-23 months in Uganda.

Methods: We analyzed data from the women's questionnaire for the 1995-2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS). Vaccine completion was defined as having received a dose of Bacillus-Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine; three doses of diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT) vaccine; three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) (excluding OPV given at birth); and one dose of measles vaccine. We performed Chi-square tests to compare vaccination completion by socio-demographic factors stratified by 10 sub-regions: Eastern, East Central, Central 1, Central 2, Kampala, Karamoja, North, Western, West Nile, and Southwest. We performed logistic regression analysis for each of the regions to identify factors associated with vaccination completion at 5% level of statistical significance.

Results: Overall vaccination completion was 48.6% (95%CI, 47.2, 50.1) and ranged from 17.3% in Central 1 to 65.9% in Southwest. Vaccination completion rates declined significantly by 10.4% (95% confidence interval (CI), - 16.1, - 4.6) between 1995 and 2000, and increased significantly by 10.0% (95% CI, 4.6, 15.4) between 2000 and 2006, and by 5.4% (95% CI, 0.2, 10.6) between 2006 and 2011. Maternal education (secondary or higher level), receipt of tetanus toxoid (TT) during pregnancy, and possession of a child health card were associated with vaccination completion across all the sub-regions. Other factors like place of residence, religious affiliation, household wealth, maternal age, childbirth order, size of child at birth, and place of delivery were associated with vaccination completion but differed between the 10 sub-regions.

Conclusion: Besides considerable regional variations, the vaccination completion rate among children aged 12-23 months in Uganda remains suboptimal despite the availability of vaccines. Maternal education, receipt of TT, and possession of a child health card are associated with a higher likelihood of vaccination completion among children aged 12-23 months in all the regions of Uganda. Interventions to improve the utilization of vaccination services in Uganda should consider these factors.

Keywords: Determinants; Regional; Uganda; Vaccination completion; Vaccination coverage.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Vaccination Completion Trends among children aged 12-23 months in Uganda by Sub-regions (1995-2016)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Vaccination completion by socio-demographic characteristics among children aged 12-23 months in Uganda (1995-2016)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
BCG, DPT3, OPV 3, and Measles vaccine Coverage Trends among children aged 12-23 months in Uganda by sub-region (1995-2016)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Madhi SA, Rees H. Special focus on challenges and opportunities for the development and use of vaccines in Africa. Hum Vaccines Immunother. 2018;14(10):2335–2339. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2018.1522921. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Experts caution against stagnation of immunization coverage in Africa. World Health Organization, Africa Region; 2019. Available from: https://www.afro.who.int/news/experts-caution-against-stagnation-immuniz.... Cited 17/09/2019.
    1. UBOS . Uganda demographic and health survey 2016 (UDHS2016) Kampala: Uganda Bureau of Statistics Kampala, Uganda, The DHS Program ICF Rockville, Maryland, USA; 2018.
    1. Girmay A, Dadi AF. Full immunization coverage and associated factors among children aged 12-23 months in a hard-to-reach areas of Ethiopia. Int J Pediatr. 2019;2019:8. doi: 10.1155/2019/1924941. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Acharya P, Kismul H, Mapatano MA, Hatløy A. Individual- and community-level determinants of child immunization in the Democratic Republic of Congo: a multilevel analysis. PLoS One. 2018;13(8):e0202742. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202742. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances