Religious affiliation and immunization coverage in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although religious affiliation has been identified as a potential barrier to immunization in some African countries, there are no systematic multi-country analyses, including within-country variability, on this issue. We investigated whether immunization varied according to religious affiliation and sex of the child in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

Methods

We used data from 15 nationally representative surveys from 2010 to 2016. The major religious groups were described by country in terms of wealth, residence, and education. Proportions of fully immunized and unvaccinated children were stratified by country, maternal religion, and sex of the child. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to assess whether the outcomes varied according to religion,

SUBMITTER: Costa JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6995994 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature