Religion, education and child immunization in Ethiopia
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Date
2007
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between immunization status of children and
religion before and after controlling for other factors such as maternal education in
Ethiopia, a country characterized by highest mortality and morbidity rates in the world.
Using data from the nationally representative 2000 Demographic and Health Survey, the
bivariate results indicated that there are substantial differences in child immunization by
maternal religion. More children born to traditional mothers are significantly less likely
to receive full immunization coverage than children born to mothers professing Orthodox
religion and other religions. The social mechanism that explains this huge disparity is that
traditional mothers may be attributable to the traditional spiritual explanation of events,
including diseases, and do not believe in the prevention of child-killer diseases. Further,
significant variation in receiving complete immunization is observed with mother's level
of education, and place of residence (rural/urban).
Description
>Magister Scientiae - MSc
Keywords
Immunization, Religion, Traditional spiritual explanation, Social mechanism