Prevalence of and factors associated with zero-dose and under-immunized children in selected areas of Bangladesh: Findings from Lot Quality Assurance Sampling Survey

Background: In the era of Gavi's 5.0 vision of "leaving no one behind with immunization", childhood routine vaccination in missed communities is considered as a priority concern. Despite having a success story at the national level, low uptake of immunization is still persistent in selected pocket areas of Bangladesh. However, prevalence and the associated factors of zero-dose (ZD) and under-immunization (UI) are still unknown at those geo-pockets of Bangladesh. Thus, the study aims to report and identify the factors associated with ZD and UI in selected geographical locations.

Methods: This study used data from a Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) survey where 504 households from 18 clusters of four hard to reach (HTR) and one urban slum were included. Caregivers of children aged 4.5 to 23 months were interviewed. Three outcome variables- ZD, UI and ZD/UI were considered and several related attributes were considered as independent variables. Data were analyzed through bivariate analysis, binary logistic regression and dominance analysis.

Results: Overall, 32% of the children were either ZD (8%) or UI (26%) in the selected areas. The adjusted odds of ZD/UI for urban slum and haor (wetlands) areas were 5.62 and 3.61 respectively considering coastal areas as reference. However, distance of nearest EPI center, availability of EPI card, age of caregivers, education and occupation of mother and number of earning members in household were influential factors for ZD/UI. According to dominance analysis, availability of EPI card can explain the most of the variation of ZD/UI in this study.

Conclusion: The study findings highlight the high prevalence ZD/UI in certain geo-pockets of the country. It provided a powerful insight of current situation and associated factors in regards to ZD/UI in the country which will help policy-makers and programme managers in designing programmes to reduce missed communities in Bangladesh.