Abstract:

Background: Immunization is among important preventive strategies in medicine and has saved a lot of lives in the world. Measles is also a preventable disease which is among other common disease of under-five. There has been measles outbreak in countries with low routine immunization coverage, Tanzania inclusive-which has measles immunization coverage just within the WHO recommended coverage of 90-95%. However there are pockets within the country such Kasulu District in Kigoma region which has coverage ranging from 82.2% - 86.3% between the year 2007 to 2009. Therefor this study endeavored to find out determinant of parents’ decision not to take their under-five children to Clinic for measles immunization in Kasulu by using health belief model.

Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study an interview guided questionnaire was used to collect the required information. Participants were obtained by random sampling technique where 283 individuals were interviewed on voluntary basis from Kasulu district from July – August 2011.

Results: Majority of the respondents (91.8%, n=216) agreed on the fact that measles can be transmitted from one person to another (X2=141, p<0.0001). The study was revealed that, education of an individual has no impact on the cause of measles among respondents (X2=21.86, p<0.01). Also, it was found that, about 8.1% (n=23) perceived traditional healers to cure measles. In addition deficit of measles vaccine in most dispensaries was mentioned as a significant barrier for measles immunization.

Conclusion: Most parents are aware and informed about vaccination and all the messages advocating child immunization, but shortage of health staff at health facilities, inadequate and irregular supplies of vaccine to health facilities and poor health services provision, are the real hindrances to reach the recommended vaccination coverage of measles and other diseases in the vaccination list.