[Impact of parental attitudes on infant vaccinal coverage in Benin]

Few studies have addressed the impact of parental attitudes on vaccinal coverage in early childhood. The purpose of this descriptive-analytical transverse study was to assess this problem in a cohort of parents with a 12- to 23-month-old child randomly identified by cluster analysis in five communities in the Oueme department. Data were collected using a questionnaire and tabulation sheet. Statistical analysis was performed by logistic regression using the stepwise digression method. Most of the 438 parents in the study cohort (74.2%) were between 21 and 35 years of age. More than half had not attended school and less than 20% were unemployed. The proportion refusing vaccination for their children was 35% among parents who had to walk more than 30 minutes back and forth to the health care facility and 38% among parents who had poor knowledge about vaccination. The refusal rate was 1.4 times higher for parents with no education than for parents who had attended school (P=0.005). Poor parental knowledge about vaccination was significantly correlated with refusal of vaccination (p<0.001). This study suggests that communication strategies aimed at enhancing parental knowledge and understanding about vaccination should be promoted at health care facilities as well as through other channels, e.g., news media and public events such as social and religious gatherings.