EFFECTS OF HEALTH EDUCATION ON PARENTS’ KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES REGARDING VACCINATION AT MOUANKO, EDEA HEALTH DISTRICT, CAMEROON

Background: Vaccination is known to prevent 2.5 million deaths per year worldwide. However, vaccination coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa including Cameroon is still low due to poor knowledge on vaccination.

Objective: This study aimed at investigating the effects of health education on parents’ knowledge and attitudes regarding vaccination.

Methods: This was a cross sectional interventional study which investigated the effects of health education on parents’ knowledge and attitudes regarding vaccination in the Mouanko Health Area. Participants were selected using the cluster sampling technique and were randomly assigned either to an intervention or a control group. The intervention was health education on vaccination that was administered only to the intervention group after conducting a pretest. Data on knowledge and attitudes was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Each correct response based on questions asked on the questionnaire was given a point. The knowledge section was scored on 13and parents who scored seven points and above were termed knowledgeable while those who scored below seven were termed not-knowledgeable. Similarly, a point was given to each correct response under attitudes; parents who scored four points and above on seven were said to have positive attitudes, while those who scored below four had negative attitudes on vaccination. Data was collected from May 13 to June 15, 2019 and analysed using SPSS version 25.0.

Results: After the intervention, there was a significant increase in the proportion of participants who had knowledge on vaccination from 35.0% to 57.6% and from 31.0% to 41.9% for positive attitudes. The p-values were at 0.001 and 0.012 for knowledge and attitudes respectively (CI = 95%).

Conclusion: The positive change in the intervention group after the intervention indicated the cost-effectiveness of the health education.