MOTHERS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT VACCINE PREVENTABLE DISEASES AND IMMUNIZATIONCOVERAGE OF A POPULATION WITH HIGH-RATE OF ILLITERACY

In a case-control analysis of cross-sectional data, 328 children aged 1235 months and their mothers were studied to identify the factors ass ociated with delayed or non-immunization of their children. Delayed or non-immunization was associated with low socio-economic status, mater nal illiteracy, and lack of mothers' knowledge on vaccine preventable diseases as recommended by the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI ), The association of this lack of mother's knowledge with no or delay ed immunisation persisted after adjusting the effects of others in log istic regression analysis (Odds Ratio 16.7; 95 per cent confidence int erval: 15.65-17.8; P< 0.0001). The results indicate that even in the p resence of maternal illiteracy, educating mothers about the vaccines a nd vaccine preventable diseases may be highly effective in increasing the immunization coverage.