Africa currently has the lowest childhood vaccination coverage worldwide. If the full benefits of childhood vaccination programmes are to be enjoyed in sub-Saharan Africa, all countries need to improve on delivery of vaccines to achieve and sustain high coverage. In this paper, we reviewed trends in vaccination coverage, dropouts rates and explored the country-specific predictors of a fully immunised child (FIC) in Western Africa. We utilized datasets from Demographic and Health Surveys available for Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo to obtain prevalence estimates of vaccination for Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, Polio, Measles and Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus vaccines in children aged 12 – 23 months. We also calculated the DPT1-to-DPT3 and DPT1-to-Measles dropouts, and the proportions of the fully immunised child (FIC). Factors predictive of FIC within each country were explored using Chi-squared tests and multivariable logistic regression models.

Medicine, Health and Life Sciences