Assessment of Awareness And Knowledge of Pentavalent Vaccine Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in a Tertiary Hospital In Jos North Local Government, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Immunization prevents debilitating illness and disability and saves millions of lives every year. It is one of the most powerful and cost effective of all public health interventions. Pentavalent vaccine is a combination of five vaccines-in-one that prevents diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b all through a single dose. It was introduced into the Nigerian immunization schedule in 2012. Awareness and knowledge of childhood immunization and vaccines play a major role in determining immunization coverage in Nigeria. Studies have shown geographical disparities in knowledge of childhood vaccines. Other factors include vaccine availability, acceptance, perceived side effects, level of education, religious beliefs, poor cold chain, lack of trust for the system and others.Objective: This study aims to assess the awareness and knowledge of pentavalent vaccine in pregnant women attending antenatal care in a Tertiary Hopital in Jos North Local Government Area. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study conducted done over a period of three (3 ) months from August 2018 to October, 2018. The study involved 397 pregnant women attending antenatal care at Plateau Specialist Jos North LGA, Plateau State. A Simple Random Sampling method was used to select pregnant women for the study. This was done by balloting. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered, pre-tested, structured questionnaire. The data was collected, entered and analyzed using IBM Statistical package for socia sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results: The result shows the socio demographics of the respondents in the study. A total of 379 participants were interviewed. The Mean age was 28.4 years while the Median age was 28.0 years. Lowest age was 15 years while the oldest was 43years. Majority 378 (95.2%) of the respondents were aware of routine immunisation (RI) generally, 265 (66.8%) of the respondents were aware of pentavalent vaccine Most 276 (73.0%) of the respondents got information about routine immunization from health workers, relatives and friends 54 (14.3%), 23 (6.14%) school, Televiion 14 (3.7%), radio 8 (2.1%), Internet 3 (0.8%). Majority of the respondents 224 (84.5%) had incorrect knowledge of the composition of pentavalent vaccine, 141 (53.2%) did not know the correct route of administration, 171 (64.5%) knew the correct number of doses required for every child, 6 (2.3%) had no idea of the health benefits. Only 32 (8.1%) had good knowledge of Pentavalent vaccine, 57 (14.4%) had fair knowledge while 308(77.6%) had poor knowledge of Pentavalent vaccines. There was a statistically significant association between knowledge of pentavelent vaccine and age of pregnant women (p = 0.042), level of education (p =0.011), occupation of pregnant women. (p = 0.0002) Conclusion and recommendations: Ninety five percent of pregnant women were aware of routine immunisation (RI) generally, while two thirds were aware of pentavalent vaccine. Over three fourths of pregnant women had poor knowledge of pentavalent vaccines, 1 in 7 had fair knowledge, while only 8.0% (1 in 12) had good knowledge . Age of pregnant women, educational level and occupation of pregnant women had statistically significant association with knowledge of pentavalent vaccines.The government should support health education activities targeted at routine immunization and pentavalent vaccines. Health facilities and workers are should continue to enlighten the mothers on need for pentavalent vaccine use. Expectant mothers should be more interested in immunizations that will be given to their children, the components and side effects of such vaccines.