Age-appropriate Vaccination and Associated Factors among Children Aged 12- 35 Months in Ethiopia: A Multi-Level Analysis

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAge-appropriate vaccination is one of the key public health measures to prevent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite its importance, there has been insufficient emphasis on tackling this problem. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of age-appropriate vaccination and associated factors in Ethiopia.MethodData of 1077 children aged 12-35months were extracted from the Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019 using a prepared data extraction checklist and included in the analysis. The extracted data was analyzed using STATA version 14.0. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. then analysis at different levels was done using multilevel logistic regression. Significant variables were identified at p-value < 0.05 within 95% confidence level and AOR.ResultThe pooled prevalence of age-appropriate vaccination in this study was 21.17% at 95%CI (18.73-23.61). Factors like mothers aged >= 40 (AOR=4.05 at 95%CI1.03, 15.83), 35-39 years (AOR= 4.62 at 95%CI1.27,16.71), 25-29 years, (AOR =4.07 at 95%CI 1.18,14.03), Maternal secondary education (AOR=1.85 at 95% CI 1.06, 3.22), Maternal primary education (AOR= 1.60 at 95% CI1.07, 2.41) and rural residence (AOR=0.34, 95%CI 0.23,0.51) were significant predictors of age-appropriate vaccinations.ConclusionThis study concluded that the prevalence of age-appropriate vaccination of children in Ethiopia is below the desired level. Hence, the stakeholders should give due attention to the timely vaccination of children equally as the effort being made to increase the coverage.