KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF MOTHERS TOWARDS MEASLES AND MEASLES, MUMPS AND RUBELLA (MMR) VACCINE IN IDI- ABA COMMUNITY ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Measles has remained endemic in some part of the world where the vaccine is not easily accessible. Although vaccine is available in some parts of the world, with routine immunization services and campaigns, many children are yet to be vaccinated. Hence, this study assessed the knowledge and attitude towards measles and Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine (MMR) among mothers in Idi-aba community. This was a descriptive research design using multistage sampling technique to choose participants for the study. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect information from participants. After the distribution and collection of the questionnaires, data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that 93.2% (386) and 65.9% (273) participants indicated that they knew what measles and MMR vaccines are respectively. However, overall analysis revealed that only 165 (39%) participants had high knowledge of measles and MMR vaccine while 303 (74%) had good attitude towards measles and MMR vaccine. This study showed that there are some knowledge gaps.  Factors significantly associated with high percentage of mothers having good attitude are occupation (????2=20, P=0.000), income (????2=5.9, P=0.009) and parity (????2=23, P=0.000). In conclusion, this result implies that in order to sustain the good attitude displayed by the mothers, there is need for strategic intensive health educational programs for the mothers of the community.