Differential effect of conflicts on vaccination: Boko Haram insurgency vs. other conflicts in Nigeria

The Boko Haram insurgency is one of the most devastating violent crises that Nigeria has encountered in recent years. This paper compares the relative effect of the Boko Haram insurgency, as compared to other conflict events, on vaccination uptake among Nigerian children. To evaluate the effect of conflict events on vaccination, the children's birth months and the months of armed conflict were matched. The data on vaccination uptake was from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2018, while the information on conflict events was from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) Georeferenced Event Dataset (UCDP GED). The sub-group analysis was conducted, Boko-Haram affected sample vs. total sample, to evaluate the differential effect of armed conflict events on vaccination. The Boko Haram insurgency had a significant and negative effect on vaccination uptake in the conflict-affected states; Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe. On the other hand, other forms of conflicts that took place in Nigeria had significantly weaker effects on vaccination uptake. The negative effect of Boko Haram-related conflict events was particularly strong on Penta3/DPT3 uptake, while its effect on BCG was weak.