Factors associated with measles vaccination among children aged 12-59 months in Tambacounda commune, Senegal, in 2021

Introduction: To improve measles vaccination coverage among children in the commune of Tambacounda, a household survey was carried out among mothers and/or babysitters. The objective was to investigate factors related to immunization coverage at the first dose of measles and rubella (MR) vaccine in children aged 12 to 59 months. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 to 6 August 2022 with three-stage random cluster sampling. Data collection was done using a questionnaire. We performed bivariate analysis using Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Among the 714 women surveyed, the majority were the children's biological mothers (94.1%). The mean age of women was 28.9 (±6.5) years, 89.6% were married, 74.5% housewives, 48.3% were uneducated, 58.1% knew the target disease, 43.1% knew the recommended age for the first MR vaccination. Over eighty percent (82.6%) of women were satisfied with the reception, 79.5% with the waiting time and 78.4% with the advice. The mean age of children was 33.7 (±14.1) months with male predominance (52.0%) and 80.0% vaccinated with first dose of MR vaccine. At bivariate analysis, there was a statistically significant association between childhood MR vaccination with mother's schooling, knowledge of the importance of vaccination, knowledge of recommended age for MR vaccination, knowledge of recommended MR vaccine doses, distance to vaccination site, female satisfaction at reception, satisfaction with wait time. In multivariate analysis, knowledge of vaccination importance (aOR=3.00; 95% CI:1.88–4.79) and knowledge of recommended MR vaccine doses (aOR=1.91; 95% CI: 1.25–2.91) remained significantly associated with vaccination. Conclusion: MR1 vaccination is associated with mothers' knowledge of the importance of measles vaccination and the recommended number of vaccine doses. This emphasizes the need for targeted health education and communication strategies to enhance mothers' understanding of these critical aspects of the measles vaccination program.