Bangladesh 1993-1994 Demographic and Health ... - Measure DHS

The data indicate that boys are somewhat more likely than girls to receive basic immunizations. Formost vaccinations, the difference is small, with about 5 to 6 percent more boys than girls receiving theimmunization. Overall 62 percent of boys receive all of the recommended immunizations, compared to 56percent of girls (Figure 8.3).Children of birth order six and above are less likely than children of lower birth orders to receive thebasic childhood immunizations. The difference is particularly wide for the measles vaccine, which is givento only 60 percent of children of birth order six and above, compared to 73 percent of first children. Thevaccination program has been more successful in urban areas, even though more than half of the children inrural areas have been fully immunized.There are sharp differences in vaccination coverage by division. Children in Khulna and BarisalDivisions are more likely to be fully immunized than children in other divisions, whereas those in Dhaka andChittagong Divisions lag behind the national average. Only half of the children in Dhaka Division are fullyimmunized, compared to over 80 percent of those in Khulna Division. Although some of the regionaldifferences are due to lower proportions of children in Dhaka and Chittagong Divisions receiving initialvaccinations such as BCG and the first dose of DPT, much of the difference is due to higher dropout ratesbetween the first and third doses of DPT and polio and especially to lower proportions who receive themeasles vaccine. As expected, the proportion of children who receive all the recommended vaccinationsincreases with the education level of the mother, from 52 percent of children of mothers with no educationto 79 percent of those whose mothers have at least some secondary education.Overall, vaccination cards were shown to interviewers for 46 percent of children age 12-23 months.Differentials in vaccination card levels generally follow those of the proportion fully immunized.Figure 8.3Percentage of Children Age 12-23 Months Who AreFully Immunized, by Background CharacteristicsSEXMaleFemaleRESIDENCEUrbanRuralI 62J,565870DIVISIONBaris~lChittagongD h a k a ~K h u l n a ~RaJshahl~~ 5 4- 7349. - - 8165Prim. Incornp.l~-.~"~"~'-~ ~Prim. Comp.~---'~-~-~--~"~Secondary+ ~--~--~-~-"~"~-~020 40 60 80PercentBDHSI~3-~109