Routine Immunization - Do People Know About It? A Study Among Caretakers of Children Attending Pulse Polio Immunization in East Delhi

RESEARCH QUESTION: Do caretakers of children under five years have sufficient knowledge regarding routine immunization (RI)? OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge about RI among caretakers of young children. SETTINGS: Pulse polio immunization centres in East Delhi. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: Six hundred and eighty-two caretakers accompanying children under 5 years to pulse polio booths in November 2006. STUDY TOOL: Pre-tested semi-open-ended questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Proportions, Chi-square test. RESULTS: The proportions of respondents who had awareness about different aspects of RI, such as weekday of RI (37.0%), age group for RI (49.1%), number of visits required in the first year of life (27.0%), were all low. When asked to name the four diseases covered under the RI program in Delhi, only 268 (39.3%) could name at least three. The education level of respondents was strongly associated with their knowledge about RI. CONCLUSION: The need of the hour is to make RI a ‘felt need’ of the community. Making caretakers more aware about RI is a vital step in achieving this goal.