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ATTITUDE OF PARENTS TOWARDS POLIO IMMUNIZATION A CASE STUDY OF ARGUNGU METROPOLIS IN KEBBI STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0       Background of the Study

Immunization is not a new phenomenon in the world, and is found in many societies across the globe, because in the past people have traditional ways of immunizing not only their children but also themselves. This includes the use of minerals vegetables, leaves of trees and armlet. Nowadays due to the existence of new modern health care facilitates, immunization has become modernised. Immunization is one of the major public community participations in any society will be used health interventions to prevent childhood morbidity and to assess some factors for or against efficient polio death.

Polio or poliomyelitis is an acute viral disease characterised by inflammation of the nerve cells of the brain stem and the spinal cord. The disease is caused by a virus called poliovirus. It belongs to the genus, enter virus and the family, poliovirus proceed to the body stream and into the central nervous system causing paralysis and muscle weakness. The poliovirus enters the body through the mouth usually from the hand contaminated with the stool of an infected person. Polio is more common young children and occurs under condition of poor hygiene. Paralysis is more common and more severe when infection occurs in older individuals.

Parents are very important in the determination of the success or failure of polio eradication. This stems from the fact that their level of awareness perception with respect to the susceptibility of their children to polio disease, severity of the disease and beliefs about the oral polio vaccine would influence willingness or other wise to release children for polio immunization. The study therefore set out to determine the level of awareness of parents about the polio disease, document the perception by parents of the susceptibility of children to the disease and determine the attitude of parents toward polio eradication initiative.

1.1  Statement of the Research Problem

Polio is a disease and threat to the children which affects infant’s lifestyle. Lack of vaccination makes children to become crippled with certain disabilities thereby, affects people by not contributing and participating fully to the socio economic and political development of the society. The phenomenon is very controversial as many people lack cooperation and perceived it as a way of providing health care while some believe that is contaminated with some anti fertility agents which affect the physical appearance of children. This makes the phenomena problematic and a conflicting value towards acceptance or non-acceptance of the social issue.

The situation in northern Nigeria is highly critical where there is strong sociocultural belief to the extents that some people have distrusted claims about the safety of the western biomedicines. This makes many parents to detest scientific discovery as a means of health treatment internally and physically. However, this observed strong socio-economic belief in parents toward the rejection of polio vaccine in Argungu Metropolis, may therefore have a lot of implications for the health of children. It also implies that the growth, development and survival of these children may be jeopardized. Equally, children would be vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases as parents are incapable of changing beliefs for child health.

 1.2  Research Objectives

The general objective of this study is to examine the factors in the acceptance or rejection of polio immunization in Argungu metropolis.

1. To ascertain the sociocultural beliefs that influence parent’s attitude toward acceptance or rejection of polio immunization in Argungu metropolis.

2. To find out the level of knowledge that influence parent’s attitude toward polio immunization in Argungu metropolis.

3. To establish the influence of socio-economic factors on parents’ beliefs towards polio immunization in Argungu metropolis.

1.3  Research Questions

1. What are the sociocultural beliefs that influence parent’s attitude toward polio immunization in Argungu metropolis?

2. What are the levels of knowledge that influence parents’ attitude toward polio immunization in Argungu metropolis?

3. What are the Socio-economic factors of parent’s beliefs toward polio immunization in Argungu Metropolis?                                                        

 1.4  The Significance of the Study

There are many people that will benefit from this research most especially parents towards accepting polio immunization in the study area. This necessitates a study of this nature to be conducted as important in predicting the acceptability, or otherwise of the Polio Immunization Programme. It is the researcher’s belief that the success of any Polio Immunization intervention will depend on proper planning that takes cognizance of the attitude of the intended population. 

This research is also expected to be of important to the parents and general public of Argungu metropolis, Kebbi state and Nigeria at large as it attempts to review the attitude of parents towards polio immunization. So also, this research work will aim at identifying the sociocultural beliefs of parents towards polio immunization

It will help health centre as a source of correcting measure, to health persons on one way or another idea of health education child survival.

1.5  Scope and Limitation of the Study

This research was restricted to Argungu metropolis in Kebbi State. The study was more interested on the attitude of parents towards polio immunization in Argungu metropolis. Due to time and resources constraints, the research was limited to Argungu metropolis. The study sample drawn for the research was from the general public and the relevant institutions or agencies and adopted a survey research design to capture the sociocultural beliefs of parent attitude toward polio immunization.

1.6  Definition of Terms

 Immunization: This is the process whereby a person is made resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine WHO (2016). Attitude: According to Cantril, attitude is a more or less permanently enduring state of readiness of mental organization to react in a characteristic way to any object or situation with which it is related.  Rowsnow and Robinson (1967) view that the term attitude denotes the organization in an individual feelings, beliefs and predispositions to behave as he/she does.

Polio: Often called poliomyelitis or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus (Hamborsky, 2015).