Abstract:
Background: Complete childhood vaccination remains poor in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite major improvement in
childhood vaccination coverage worldwide. Globally, an estimated 2.5 million children die annually from vaccinepreventable diseases. While studies are being conducted in different East African countries, there is limited evidence
of complete basic childhood vaccinations and associated factors in East Africa among children aged 12–23 months.
Therefore, this study aimed to investigate complete basic childhood vaccinations and associated factors among
children aged 12–23 months in East Africa.
Methods: Based on the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) of 12 East African countries (Burundi, Ethiopia,
Comoros, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi), secondary data
analysis was performed. The study included a total weighted sample of 18,811 children aged 12–23 months. The basic
childhood vaccination coverage was presented using a bar graph. Multilevel binary logistic regression analysis was fitted
for identifying significantly associated factors because the DHS has a hierarchical nature. The Intra-class Correlation
Coefficient (ICC), Median Odds Ratio (MOR), Proportional Change in Variance (PCV), and deviance (−2LLR) were used for
checking model fitness, and for model comparison. Variable with p-value ≤0.2 in the bi-variable multilevel analysis were
considered for the multivariable analysis. In the multivariable multilevel analysis, the Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95%
Confidence Interval (CI) were reported to declare the significance and strength of association with full vaccination.
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