Status of immunization among women and children: A study of Kanpur slums

Immunization is an essential public health intervention. It is a way of protecting the human body against various harmful diseases through vaccination. The objectives of the study: to find out the socio economic characteristics of selected respondents and to determine the association between the socio-economic characteristics and Awareness, Knowledge and Practices of the respondents regarding immunization. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in the Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh state. An exploratory research design and using multistage random sampling, six slums were selected. From each selected slum area, a list of mothers who had children below the age of 5 years was prepared; and from this list, 25 mothers were selected randomly from each slum area making a total of 150 respondents. The scoring pattern was used. Data was collected using structured interview schedule. Class-Interval, Percentage, Arithmetic mean and Chi-square were used for analysis of data. Results and Discussion: It was found that there was significant association between religion and practices of the respondents regarding immunization. This shows that non-Hindus had less awareness and knowledge regarding immunization, but hesitated to get their children vaccinated as also has been reported by Sharma Sanchita (2006) in the study. Further study reveals that there was significant association between education of the respondents and awareness, knowledge & practices regarding immunization. It was found that there was significant association between family income and awareness, knowledge &practices of the respondents regarding immunization. Conclusion: More stress should be given to spread awareness and knowledge regarding immunization through sustained IEC (Information, Education and Communication) Campaign, media and service-providers as knowledge was found to be related with practices.