FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO LOW IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE IN KAKOBA DIVISION - MBARARA MUNICIPALITY, MBARARA DISTRICT

ABSTRACT

Immunization is one of the major public health interventions to avoid childhood

illnesses and mortality. Globally, there are 30 million children who are not routinely

immunized every year and 1.5 million children under five years of age die each year

from vaccine preventable diseases.

The purpose of the study was to establish factors contributing to low immunization

coverage in Kakoba Division - Mbarara Municipality, Mbarara District. Crosssectional

and descriptive study which employed a quantitative approach of data

collection was used and the study was conducted at Kakoba Health Centre III in

Kakoba Division. The researcher used convenient sampling method to select samples.

Only 65 parents/caretakers with children who attended Maternal Child Health at

Kakoba Health Centre III in Kakoba Division. The findings showed that a majority 29

(45%) of the participants said there are others factors like poor mobilization,

postponding dates and few health workers which hinders immunization services while

a few 4 (6%) sail low knowledge of the health workers. majority 56 (86%) of the

participants said fear of the side effects of the vaccine because it make the child sick

compared to only 1 (2%) who had no response, 52 (80%) of the participants revealed

that lack of awareness by care givers may result to low immunization service utilization

while only 4 (6%) were not sure of that. Factors like poor mobilization, postponding

dates, fear of side effects of the vaccine and lack of awareness by caregivers contribute

to low immunization coverage.