EVALUATION OF IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE AMONG CHILDREN BELOW 5 YEARS OF AGE IN A TRIBAL COMMUNITY IN GADCHIROLI DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

Dr. Kunal Modak*, Dr. Shashikant Shambharkar, Dr. Ravindra Chaudhari

ABSTRACT

Background: The major causes of under-5 mortality in India are vaccine-preventable diseases like Japanese Encephalitis, tetanus, TB, Poliomyelitis, Pertussis, Measles etc. India has the largest dropout rate for three doses of DPT vaccine, as per World Health Organization reports. Objectives: To assess the immunization coverage among children below 5 years of age in tribal area of Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, India. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study has been conducted among 210 children below 5 years of age group from tribal areas under PHC Godalwahi of Dhanora block of Gadchiroli district, for a period of two months during September and October 2017. A pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire has been used to collect required information with verification of immunization card and where the card is not available, by examination of scar mark or interviewing the respondent. The traditional EPI cluster survey chose a fixed sample of 30 children in 7 different areas. The collected data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS software for Windows version 20.0. Categorical data was presented as percentage (%). Chi-square test of significance was applied to test the association between various variables and status of immunization coverage. Results: Out of total 210 children below 5 years age group surveyed, 54. 2% (114) were males and 45.8% (96) were females, and 188 (89.52%) were fully immunized, whereas 22 (10.48%) were partially immunized. Conclusion: Higher coverage of full immunization for individual vaccines in our survey indicates better access to immunization services by the selected tribal population of Gadchiroli.

Keywords: Immunization coverage, Full immunization, Tribal, Gadchiroli.