Publication:

Assessment of immunisation status of infants in an urban area of North Karnataka

Background Still over 2 million children die each year from the six vaccine preventable diseases, some of which can be eradicated and all of which are preventable.

Methods Cross sectional study done on 385 infants residing in Urban Health Centre, Khasbag, Karnataka, India.

Results The study revealed that 373 (96.88%) of the infants were fully immunized, 9 (2.34%) were partially immunized and 3 (0.78%) were unimmunized. There were multiple reasons for partial and non-immunization. The main causes were unaware of need for immunization, unaware of need to return for 2nd and 3rd dose and wrong ideas about contraindications. Other causes were postponement of immunization for another time and the major obstacles were illness of child, mother too busy and family problems.

Conclusions Child illness and lack of information are major causes of non-immunization and partial immunization.