ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE UPTAKE, DROPOUT AND HESITANCY OF UNDER-FIVE ROUTINE IMMUNIZATION AMONG CAREGIVERS IN MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE.

ABSTRACT Immunization is the process of creating immunity or resistance to an infectious disease which can also be achieved by administration of a vaccine. Vaccination is the act of introducing a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. There are limited studies to determine the factors contributing to uptake, dropout and hesitancy of newer vaccines in the routine immunization among under-five children, especially in northern part of the country and limited study was done in Borno state hence the need for this study. Due to paucity of data in the northern states, this study will prompt the needed research; public health and policy changes toward increased evenly spread coverage of childhood immunization and reduce the hesitancy and dropout rate in Maiduguri, Borno State. The general objective of this study is to assess the factors determining the uptake, dropout and hesitancy of under-five routine immunization among caregivers in Maiduguri metropolitan. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out using an interview administered questionnaire. Four hundred interview-based questionnaires were administered over the period of four weeks. The data obtained was analyzed statistically using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 20, 2014 edition. The result showed that the age group 26 to 33 has the highest number of respondents with a total of 178. Out of the 400 questionnaires administered, 381 had knowledge of routine immunization. About 234 of the respondents have experienced side effects due to immunization and 65 of them discontinued the visit after their child had recovered. Out of the 400 respondents 72 of them do not take their children for immunization and of which 53 of them is due to long waiting time. Borno state and federal government should create awareness regarding side effects of immunization through media and, adopt healthcare in danger initiative to improve good relationship between healthcare workers and their clients. This will immensely reduce the dropout and hesitancy rate of routine immunization.