Assessment of Routine Immunization Coverage in Nyala Locality, Reasons behind Incomplete Immunization in South Darfur State, Sudan

Little is known about the coverage of routine immunization service in South Darfur state, Sudan. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the vaccination rate and barriers for vaccination. A cross-sectional community-based study was undertaken in Nyala locality, south Darfur, Sudan, including urban, rural and Internal Displaced Peoples (IDPs) population in proportional representation. Survey data were collected by a questionnaire which was applied face to face to parents of 213 children 12-23 months. The collected data was then analyzed with SPSS software package. Results showed that vaccination coverage as revealed by showed vaccination card alone was 63.4% while it was increased to 82.2% when both history and cards were used. Some (5.6%) of children were completely non-vaccinated. The factors contributing to the low vaccination coverage were found to be knowledge problems of mothers (51%), access problems (15%) and attitude problems (34%). Children whose mother attended antenatal care and those from urban areas were more likely to complete their immunization schedule. In conclusion, the vaccination coverage in the studied area was low compared to the national coverage. Efforts to increase vaccination converge and completion of the scheduled plan should focus on addressing concerns of caregivers particularly side effects and strengthening the Expanded Programmer on Immunization services in rural areas.