The Effects of Immunization as It Affects Children’s Health
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of immunization on children health.
The specific objective of the study is to:
- Identify factors associated with full child immunization among children in Jaji community, Igabi Local Government Area.
- Determine the perception of parents acceptability on immunization.
- Identify the strategies meant to solve the problems of immunization.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
History of Immunization
The use of immunization to prevent disease predated the knowledge of both infection and immunology. In about 600 BC, Chinese were accustomed to using smallpox material inoculated through the nostril to prevent the disease in a process, known as “variolation” which took a variety of forms. Inoculation of healthy people with a tiny amount of material from smallpox sores was done in many Asian countries at that time. And the knowledge about disease was vague. However, Hippocrates, the father of Medicine was able to described mumps, diphtheria, epidemic jaundice, and other conditions, in 400 BC (Allison B. G., 2014).
In 1798, Edward Jenner published his work on the development of a vaccination that would protect against smallpox. Two years earlier, in 1796, he had first speculated that protection from smallpox disease could be obtained through inoculation with a related virus, vaccinia or cowpox. He tested his theory by inoculating eight-year-old James Phipps with cowpox pustule liquid recovered from the hand of a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes in a process known as ―vaccinia. The boy caught cowpox. However, when the boy was exposed to smallpox eight weeks later by Jenner, the child did not contract the disease (Thomas, 2015).
During the nineteenth century, there were many theories of diseases, but Louis Pasteur was the first to propose ―The Germ Theory of Disease‖ in 1877. He went ahead to create the first live attenuated bacterial vaccine (chicken cholera) in 1879. Robert Koch in 1882 identified the tubercle bacillus as the cause of tuberculosis, subsequently called Koch’s bacillus. The diphtheria toxin was discovered by Emile Roux in 1888 (Allison B. G., 2014). Passive serum therapies were developed through the scientific contributions of many, including Emil Von Behring who developed the first effective therapeutic serum against diphtheria and Paul Ehrlich who developed enrichment and standardization protocol, which allowed for an exact determination of quality of the diphtheria antitoxins. Tetanus toxoid was introduced in 1914 following the development of an effective therapeutic serum against tetanus by Emil Von Behring and Shibasaburo Kitasato (Allison B. G., 2014).
In a related development, in 1927 Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine was first used in newborns, having been developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Guéérin in 1921. BCG (live-attenuated Mycobacterium bovis) represented the only vaccine against tuberculosis.
Goodpasture’s demonstrated in 1931 how virus can grow in cell culture which was further developed and shown to be able to grow virus in the medium, thus paving the way for the subsequent production of viral vaccines. Oral polio vaccine types 1 and 2, developed by Albert Sabin and grown in monkey kidney cell culture were licensed for use in the U.S in 1961. In 1960, Sabin introduced the monovalent live oral poliovirus vaccine followed by its trivalent type in 1963 (Hull, 2008). This is the most commonly used polio vaccine today. Live attenuated measles virus vaccine was also licensed in the U.S in 1965. The recommended age for routine administration was changed from 9 to 12 months of age (Allison B. G., 2014).
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Area
Jaji is a community in Igabi Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State. Igabi is a Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is one of 774 local government areas (LGAs) in Nigeria. The first confirmed H5N1 (bird flu) outbreak in an African country was on February 8, 2006 on a commercial chicken farm in Jaji, a village in Igabi.
Study Population
The study population included children of mothers/caregivers born between 1st November, 2008 and 30th September 2009 (12-23 months old) living in any of the five wards chosen for the study
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RESULTS
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY POPULATION
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION/RECOMMEDATION
CONCLUSION
The need for community- based studies on the immunization status of certain groups of children in our environment cannot be over-emphasized. It is necessary that the immunization status of children living in rural communities are properly documented bearing in mind that due to environmental and social circumstances, they are highly prone to these major childhood diseases.
Immunization coverage in this rural suburb is low when compared to values in this same South East Nigeria. There was also a high dropout rate. Non availability of vaccines in this rural suburb, misconception of the efficacy and safety of immunization, its side effects, sitting of the few health facilities that offer routine immunization far from where the people live and work would have contributed to the low level coverage.
Missed opportunities for immunization, educational status, religious practices and problems after immunization, ignorance and non-acceptance of some orthodox medical health programmes remain a problem in developing countries.
Important correlates of inadequate immunization coverage in this environment include educational status of the mothers, religious practices and problems following immunization while age and occupation of the mothers, number of the children in the family and vaccination card availability are not contributory factors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are made to strengthen NPI routine immunization aimed at reducing the incidence of these killer vaccine preventable diseases in our environment.
- There is still need to sustain and strengthen regular health education by not only the local government health education/ mobilization officer but all health staff in facilities. This should be aimed at emphasizing the benefits of vaccination and dispelling misconception about the problems of side effects of vaccination. Health education especially for rural dwellers should also address such issues as overcrowding, family planning and environmental sanitation.
- Adequate provision of logistics for proper maintenance of cold chain to ensure potency of vaccines should be embarked upon by the state and the local government. This will reduce the incidence of these diseases after immunization in our children.
- Regular supply of vaccines should be ensured and logistics for distribution should be ensured in the local government area due to the hard to reach nature of most of its communities.
- Members of the community should be mobilized and made to participate, in the programme as their own as an important aspect of health of their children. This will encourage maintenance and sustainability of the immunization programmes even when the country has a government that has no political will, support or commitment to the programme.
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