Study on Coverage of Measles Rubella Vaccine at Natore Sadar Upazila and Awareness of the Mothers Regarding the Vaccine

The present study was carried out with a view to explore the proportion of mothers vaccinated by Measles Rubella (MR) vaccine and to assess their knowledge level regarding MR vaccine in Natore Sadar Upazila. This study was a cross-sectional type of descriptive study. A total 153 mothers were selected purposively as respondents. Of them 140 were pregnant. The present study showed that 40% of the respondents were in the age group of 20-24 years with mean age of the respondents being 25.2 ± 4.5 years. The respondents were predominantly Muslim (94.1%), literate (96.1%) pregnant (91.5%) and belonged to nuclear family (55.8%). Over three-quarters (75.2%) of the respondents had monthly family income of up to Taka 10,000 with average monthly income being Tk. 9975 ± 9112. Out of 153 respondents, about 44% were farmer. The respondents were invariably familiar (94.8%) with MR vaccine and were aware about the total number of MR vaccines to be received to develop full immunity against measles and rubella. Majority (91.5%) of their children received MR vaccine. Over 80% of the respondents knew the dose schedule of MR vaccine. However, approximately 95% of them did not know that MR vaccine is required during pregnancy. As association of demographic characteristics of the respondents with their level of knowledge on MR vaccine was analyzed, none of the demographic characteristics (age, educational status of the respondents, husband’s occupation and monthly income) were found to be associated with their knowledge level (p > 0.05). The study concluded that mothers, particularly pregnant mothers, know that there is a vaccine known as MR, but majority of them do not have adequate knowledge about target groups of this vaccine. This gap in knowledge should be minimized through health education to make wider coverage of the vaccine