IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0135222.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Determinants of Vaccination Status in Children: Evidence from a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Sonja Merten
  • Adriane Martin Hilber
  • Christina Biaggi
  • Florence Secula
  • Xavier Bosch-Capblanch
  • Pem Namgyal
  • Joachim Hombach

Abstract

Using meta-ethnographic methods, we conducted a systematic review of qualitative research to understand gender-related reasons at individual, family, community and health facility levels why millions of children in low and middle income countries are still not reached by routine vaccination programmes. A systematic search of Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, ERIC, Anthropological Lit, CSA databases, IBSS, ISI Web of Knowledge, JSTOR, Soc Index and Sociological Abstracts was conducted. Key words were built around the themes of immunization, vaccines, health services, health behaviour, and developing countries. Only papers, which reported on in-depth qualitative data, were retained. Twenty-five qualitative studies, which investigated barriers to routine immunisation, were included in the review. These studies were conducted between 1982 and 2012; eighteen were published after 2000. The studies represent a wide range of low- to middle income countries including some that have well known coverage challenges. We found that women's low social status manifests on every level as a barrier to accessing vaccinations: access to education, income, as well as autonomous decision-making about time and resource allocation were evident barriers. Indirectly, women's lower status made them vulnerable to blame and shame in case of childhood illness, partly reinforcing access problems, but partly increasing women's motivation to use every means to keep their children healthy. Yet in settings where gender discrimination exists most strongly, increasing availability and information may not be enough to reach the under immunised. Programmes must actively be designed to include mitigation measures to facilitate women's access to immunisation services if we hope to improve immunisation coverage. Gender inequality needs to be addressed on structural, community and household levels if the number of unvaccinated children is to substantially decrease.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonja Merten & Adriane Martin Hilber & Christina Biaggi & Florence Secula & Xavier Bosch-Capblanch & Pem Namgyal & Joachim Hombach, 2015. "Gender Determinants of Vaccination Status in Children: Evidence from a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0135222
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135222
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0135222
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0135222&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0135222?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Timoteo Mavimbe, Joao Carlos & Muquingue, Humberto Nelson & Braa, Jorn & Bjune, Gunnar, 2006. "Immunization coverage in Mozambique: From concepts to decision-making," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 92-100, November.
    2. Azevedo, Mario J. & Prater, Gwendolyn S. & Lantum, Daniel N., 1991. "Culture, biomedicine and child mortality in Cameroon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1341-1349, January.
    3. Nichter, Mark, 1995. "Vaccinations in the third world: A consideration of community demand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 617-632, September.
    4. Coreil, Jeannine & Augustin, Antoine & Halsey, Neal A. & Holt, Elizabeth, 1994. "Social and psychological costs of preventive child health services in Haiti," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 231-238, January.
    5. Streefland, Pieter H., 2001. "Public doubts about vaccination safety and resistance against vaccination," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 159-172, March.
    6. Renne, Elisha, 2006. "Perspectives on polio and immunization in Northern Nigeria," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 1857-1869, October.
    7. Bastien, Joseph W., 1995. "Cross cultural communication of tetanus vaccinations in Bolivia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 77-86, July.
    8. Kamat, Vinay R., 2006. ""I thought it was only ordinary fever!" cultural knowledge and the micropolitics of therapy seeking for childhood febrile illness in Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 2945-2959, June.
    9. Malpass, Alice & Shaw, Alison & Sharp, Debbie & Walter, Fiona & Feder, Gene & Ridd, Matthew & Kessler, David, 2009. ""Medication career" or "Moral career"? The two sides of managing antidepressants: A meta-ethnography of patients' experience of antidepressants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 154-168, January.
    10. Tanner, Marcel & Vlassoff, Carol, 0. "Treatment-seeking behaviour for malaria: A typology based on endemicity and gender," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 523-532, February.
    11. Kaler, Amy, 2009. "Health interventions and the persistence of rumour: The circulation of sterility stories in African public health campaigns," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1711-1719, May.
    12. Tolhurst, Rachel & Amekudzi, Yaa Peprah & Nyonator, Frank K. & Bertel Squire, S. & Theobald, Sally, 2008. ""He will ask why the child gets sick so often": The gendered dynamics of intra-household bargaining over healthcare for children with fever in the Volta Region of Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 1106-1117, March.
    13. Li, Jianghong, 2004. "Gender inequality, family planning, and maternal and child care in a rural Chinese county," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 695-708, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colvin, Christopher J. & Smith, Helen J. & Swartz, Alison & Ahs, Jill W. & de Heer, Jodie & Opiyo, Newton & Kim, Julia C. & Marraccini, Toni & George, Asha, 2013. "Understanding careseeking for child illness in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and conceptual framework based on qualitative research of household recognition and response to child diarrhoea, ," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 66-78.
    2. Berezin, Mabel & Eads, Alicia, 2016. "Risk is for the rich? Childhood vaccination resistance and a Culture of Health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 233-245.
    3. Yaqub, Ohid & Nightingale, Paul, 2012. "Vaccine innovation, translational research and the management of knowledge accumulation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2143-2150.
    4. Sikstrom, Laura, 2014. "“Without the grandparents, life is difficult”: Social hierarchy and therapeutic trajectories for children living with HIV in rural Northern Malawi," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 47-54.
    5. Desmond, Christopher*Greener, Robert, 2003. "The strategic use and potential demand for an HIV vaccine in Southern Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2977, The World Bank.
    6. Gracious M. Diiro & Abdoul G. Sam & David Kraybill, 2017. "Heterogeneous Effects of Maternal Labor Market Participation on the Nutritional Status of Children: Empirical Evidence from Rural India," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(3), pages 609-632, September.
    7. Kihlström, Laura & Siemes, Lea & Huhtakangas, Moona & Keskimäki, Ilmo & Tynkkynen, Liina-Kaisa, 2023. "Power and politics in a pandemic: Insights from Finnish health system leaders during COVID-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    8. Leach, Melissa & MacGregor, Hayley & Akello, Grace & Babawo, Lawrence & Baluku, Moses & Desclaux, Alice & Grant, Catherine & Kamara, Foday & Nyakoi, Marion & Parker, Melissa & Richards, Paul & Mokuwa,, 2022. "Vaccine anxieties, vaccine preparedness: Perspectives from Africa in a Covid-19 era," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    9. Bright Opoku Ahinkorah & John Elvis Hagan Jr. & Abdul-Aziz Seidu & Francis Sambah & Faustina Adoboi & Thomas Schack & Eugene Budu, 2020. "Female adolescents’ reproductive health decision-making capacity and contraceptive use in sub-Saharan Africa: What does the future hold?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Nik Stoop & Marijke Verpoorten & Koen Deconinck, 2019. "Voodoo, Vaccines, and Bed Nets," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 493-535.
    11. Tolhurst, Rachel & Amekudzi, Yaa Peprah & Nyonator, Frank K. & Bertel Squire, S. & Theobald, Sally, 2008. ""He will ask why the child gets sick so often": The gendered dynamics of intra-household bargaining over healthcare for children with fever in the Volta Region of Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 1106-1117, March.
    12. Jamison, Amelia M. & Quinn, Sandra Crouse & Freimuth, Vicki S., 2019. "“You don't trust a government vaccine”: Narratives of institutional trust and influenza vaccination among African American and white adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 87-94.
    13. Ataullahjan, Anushka & Mumtaz, Zubia & Vallianatos, Helen, 2019. "Family planning in Pakistan: A site of resistance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 158-165.
    14. Daku, Mark & Raub, Amy & Heymann, Jody, 2012. "Maternal leave policies and vaccination coverage: A global analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 120-124.
    15. Kristine Husøy Onarheim & Karen Marie Moland & Mitike Molla & Ingrid Miljeteig, 2020. "‘I wanted to go, but they said wait’: Mothers’ bargaining power and strategies in care-seeking for ill newborns in Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, June.
    16. Yang Cao & Zhengkui Liu, 2015. "Poverty and Health: Children of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in Beijing, China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(2), pages 459-477, September.
    17. Jasmine Gideon & Fenella Porter, 2014. "Unpacking Women's Health in Public-Private Partnerships: A Return to Instrumentalism in Development Policy and Practice?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-009, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. James, Myfanwy & Kasereka, Joseph Grace & Kasiwa, Benjamin & Kavunga-Membo, Hugo & Kambale, Kasonia & Grais, Rebecca & Muyembe-Tamfum, Jean-Jacques & Bausch, Daniel G. & Watson-Jones, Deborah & Lees, , 2023. "Protection, health seeking, or a laissez-passer: Participants’ decision-making in an EVD vaccine trial in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    19. Liang, Yun & Gibson, John, 2018. "Do siblings take your food away? Using China's one-child policy to test for child quantity-quality trade-offs," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 14-26.
    20. Kweun, Jeong Yun & Wheeler, Porter K. & Gifford, Jonathan L., 2018. "Evaluating highway public-private partnerships: Evidence from U.S. value for money studies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 12-20.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0135222. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.