Document Type

Article

Department

Family Medicine

Abstract

Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices about immunization among family practice patients.
Design: A questionnaire based survey.
Patients and Method: A questionnaire was developed in line with the study objectives. It was administered to patients visiting family physicians, after they were administered, informed consent and assurance with regards to confidentiality was provided. Epi-info and SPSS software was used for data management.
Results: A total of 97 patients were surveyed. The majority were men (59.8%) with a mean age of 29.69 years. Majority was unmarried (51.5%), with graduate and post-graduate education (73%), and in government and private service (48%). Vaccination was believed to prevent disease by 94%. Majority was informed about immunization by doctors and parents (94%). Media provided information about immunization to 62% of the patients. A 58% would recommend vaccination to others. Source about harmful effects of immunization was provided by friends and parents (80%). Hurdles against immunization were lack of education and lack of funds according to 43 (45%) and 29 (30%) respondents respectively. Education of population and mothers were ways to promote immunization according to 23 (24%) and 19 (20%) respondents respectively. Immunization exists against Hepatitis "C" and Malaria according to 35 (36%) and 10 (10%) respondents respectively. Immunization were received against polio, measles and hepatitis "B" by 86 (89%), 51 (53%) and 26 (27%) respondents respectively.
Conclusion: The study results have identified a strong need for education program for the masses about immunization, since major deficiencies have been identified. Further studies are strongly recommended along with debate on this important public health issue.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Journal of Dow University of Health Sciences

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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