Prevalence Of Second Dose Measles Vaccination Utilization And Associated Factors Among Children Aged 15-36 Months In Tocha Woreda, Dawuro Zone, Southwest Ethiopia, 2025

Abstract

Background: Measles is a highly contagious viral disease and a major cause of disease and death globally. Even though Measles is preventable with two doses vaccination and 95% vaccine coverage, only 74% received the recommended second dose globally in 2023. In Ethiopia, the second dose of the measles vaccine is a vaccine scheduled in national routine immunization program to be given at the age of 15 month for those who took the first dose measles vaccine and only 9 percent of children aged 24-35 months received the second dose of the measles vaccine. However, little is known regarding the utilization of second dose measles vaccination and its associated factors in Ethiopia especially in the study area. Objectives: To assess prevalence of second dose measles vaccination utilization and associated factors among children aged 15-36 months in Tocha woreda, Dawuro zone, Southwest Ethiopia, 2025 Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 585 children aged 15 36 months selected by multi-stage systematic sampling technique in Tocha woreda. Data was collected by face to face interview of respondents by using kobo collect mobile application. The data collected through kobo collect tool was exported to SPSS version 27.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed and Candidate variables with P-value < 0.25 in bi-variable logistic regression analysis were fitted in multi variable logistic regression model to identify factors associated with utilization of second dose measles vaccination and in multi-variable logistic regression model P-value<0.05 was used to declare statistically significant association. Multi-collinearity among independent variables was checked using variance inflation factor and model goodness of fit was checked using Hosmer-Lemeshow test. Results: A total of 585 children with a response rate of 94.4% were included. Among the study participants, 67.2% with 95%CI (63%−71%) of them utilized measles second dose vaccine. Urban residence (AOR=3.43, 95%CI: 1.74-6.44), Mothers/caregivers college and above educational status (AOR=12.76, 95%CI: 4.39-20.64), Pregnant women’s conference participation (AOR=2.25, 95%CI: 1.11 4.56), waiting time of ≤ 15 minutes (AOR=4.28, 95%CI: 1.83-10.01), waiting time of 15-30 minutes (AOR=3.33, 95%CI: 1.35-8.16) and mothers/caregivers favorable attitude (AOR=6.05, 95%CI: 2.96 12.35) were significantly positively associated with the utilization of measles second dose vaccination. Conclusion and Recommendation: The utilization of second dose measles vaccine in Tocha Woreda was below the WHO measles elimination target of > 95%. Variables such as urban residence, educational status of the mother/caregiver, pregnant women’s conference participation, waiting time for vaccination and mother’s/caregiver’s attitude towards MCV2 were found to be independent predictors of second dose measles vaccination Utilization. Therefore, Woreda Health Office managers should collaborate multi sectoraly to foster mother’s/caregiver’s educational status, advocate pregnant women’s conference, expand immunization service delivery to rural residents and work to shorten waiting time for immunization and improve mother's attitude