Prevalence and associated factors of partially/non-immunization of under-five in Goma city, Democratic Republic of Congo: a community-based cross-sectional survey

INTRODUCTION: At the East part of DRC, anecdotal reports are advancing several causes of unsuccessful campaigns of vaccination by the time going: rumors about use of vaccines for killing purpose, injection of vaccine to decrease the reproductive potential in coming generations, use of vaccines by some rebellions and neighboring countries to kill children indirectly, ineffectiveness of vaccines currently on the market. While those rumors seem to be less reliable, potential beneficiaries are taking them seriously and justifying a reluctance to bring their children or siblings for immunization. Against this above background, our community Primary Health Care team indicates that still, in Goma city in general and even in the referral hospital catchment area, there are children who have never been vaccinated. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and determinants of non-immunization of under-five children in Goma City. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional community-based survey. METHODS: A sample size of 384 children aged under-five years from the target population was used for the study. The ratio of under-five years of age Goma city to the total population of Goma city for the year 2012 was considered as the study population frame. RESULTS: The prevalence of under-five non-immunized children was 25.7%. There was an association between immunization status of children and their gender, school characteristics, age, sibling, the level of literacy, the marital status of their parents and the age of their mothers. CONCLUSION: For improving the quality of under-five children immunization, the medical authorities must consider these different determinants.