A cross sectional study on awareness about injectable polio vaccine among pregnant women and mothers of children under 14 weeks in a rural area of Kannur, North Kerala, India

Authors

  • Sarada A. K. Department of Community Medicine, Kannur Medical College, Kannur, Kerala, India
  • Thilak S. A. Department of Community Medicine, Kannur Medical College, Kannur, Kerala, India
  • Sushrit A. Neloopant Department of Community Medicine, Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20162186

Keywords:

Injectable polio vaccine (IPV), Awareness, Pregnant mothers, Mothers of children under 14 weeks, North Kerala

Abstract

Background: Poliomyelitis, a highly infectious disease which can cause irreversible total paralysis which mainly affects the children under five years of age. As the Government was introducing the injectable polio vaccine (IPV) from April 2016 in Kerala as a part of “polio end game strategy”, the study was conducted to assess the awareness about IPV. The aim was to assess the level of knowledge about IPV and attitude towards IPV introduction in the national immunisation schedule among pregnant mothers and mothers having children <14 weeks, in rural Kannur, North Kerala, India

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Anjarkandy grama panchayath under the rural field practice area of community medicine department, Kannur Medical College, Kannur, Kerala, India. Convenient sampling method was used for the sampling. Data was collected from pregnant mothers and mothers with children <14weeks by administering a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire by visiting houses and descriptive statistics were analysed.

Results: 56% (84) aware about main symptom of polio as paralysis. Only 14% (21) mothers were heard about IPV and its introduction in national immunisation schedule. The common sources of information about IPV were television (38.09%) and health workers (23.8%). About 91% (136) of the mothers were willing to vaccinate their children with IPV when government launches IPV in future.

Conclusions: Awareness about poliomyelitis was of intermediate level, awareness about IPV and its introduction into national immunisation schedule was poor but attitude towards IPV introduction into national immunisation schedule was positive. There is a need to increase the awareness by giving periodic health education to mothers by health workers and doctors.

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Published

2017-01-05

How to Cite

A. K., S., S. A., T., & Neloopant, S. A. (2017). A cross sectional study on awareness about injectable polio vaccine among pregnant women and mothers of children under 14 weeks in a rural area of Kannur, North Kerala, India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 3(8), 2004–2007. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20162186

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Original Research Articles