Peer-reviewed article
Effects of Differential Household Characteristics on Immunization Coverage for Children Aged 12-23 Months in Alego Usonga, Nyakach and Butere Sub Counties, Kenya
Grace Ochola, Edwin Atitwa, Charles Wafula ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how household characteristics such as education, housing, water access, and food availability affect immunization coverage for children aged 12-23 months in three sub-counties in Western Kenya. The research analyzed secondary data from 11,160 households and found significant associations between various household characteristics and immunization rates, though the specific characteristics that mattered differed between locations. The findings suggest that understanding local household conditions is important for improving childhood immunization programs.
Key points
- High proportion of different antigens (vaccines) were found across all three study sites
- In Alego Usonga, all five household characteristics examined (education, food availability, latrine access, water treatment, housing type) were significantly associated with immunization coverage
- In Butere, only education level and housing type showed significant associations with immunization coverage
- In Nyakach, latrine availability and food availability were the significant household characteristics associated with immunization coverage
- Household characteristics showed differential effects on immunization across the three geographic sites
Limitations
The study used secondary data and analytical statistics rather than experimental design, so it can show associations between household characteristics and immunization but cannot establish causation. The analysis is descriptive of three specific sub-counties in Western Kenya and may not generalize to other regions.
Abstract
Immunisation remains one of the most important public health interventions to reduce child morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to analyse the differential effects of household characteristics on immunisation coverage for children aged 12-23 months in Butere, Nyakach and Alego Usonga Sub Counties in Western Kenya. The specific objectives were: to describe the household characteristics, to determine the level of immunisation coverage by antigens and lastly, to analyse the association of household characteristics with immunisation. The study design was analytical statistics utilising secondary data that was collected during a larger study on community health units’ systems strengthening in three Sub Counties with a total number of 11,160 households. The findings established that there existed varied distributions in proportions for the household characteristics within the regions. The study also revealed that there was a high proportion of the different antigens examined. Finally, the study established that there exists a significant association between different household characteristics and immunisation coverage in all three sites. In Alego Usonga significant association between all the five household characteristics (education level of household headship, staple food availability, latrine availability, water treatment, and housing type) and immunisation. Butere recorded a significant association between two household characteristics (education and housing type) and immunisation coverage, and lastly, Nyakach displayed latrine and food availability to be significant associations with immunisation coverage. The study makes four recommendations for; stakeholders, policymakers, health service providers, and researchers regarding the importance of differential household characteristics in relation to improving immunisation coverage in the population.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Analysis of existing immunization data in relation to household characteristics (education, food security, water access, sanitation, housing) to identify barriers and associations
- Population
- Children aged 12-23 months in three sub-counties (Alego Usonga, Nyakach, Butere) in Western Kenya, from 11,160 households
Key finding
Significant associations found between household characteristics and immunization in all three sites, but the specific characteristics that matter differ by location
Ochola et al. · OpenAlex · 13 Jun 2022