▼ Journal of Research (Science), Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

Vol.15, No.1, June 2004, pp. 107-112 ISSN 1021-1012

SOCIO- ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE TREND TOWARDS

VACCINATION OF MOTHER AND INFANTS IN MULTAN CITY

Ghulam Yasin1, Asim Iqbal Qureshi2, Muhammad Aslam1 and Safina Naz3
1
University College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.
2
Razia Iqbal Hospital, Shalimar Colony, Bosan Road, Multan.
3
Department of Horticulture, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
email: mianyasin@yahoo.com

Abstract: This study investigates the socio- economic factors affecting mother
and child health in Multan city, Pakistan. One of the neglected areas, i.e.
Sameejabad Colony, was selected for data collection. A total of 993 married
females were interviewed by a door-to-door survey. It was found that literacy
level had a strong relationship both with mother’s and infant’s vaccination.
Females, whose husbands were educated and whose annual income was high,
had higher percentage of vaccination of themselves and their babies. As for as
occupation of mother is concerned, it did not prove to be a good indicator.

Keywords: Child, mother, socio-economic factors, vaccination.

INTRODUCTION
Approximately 155,000 (30%) of the world wide total of 515,000 maternal
deaths occur each year in countries of South Asia [UNICEF 2002]. The
Maternal Mortality Rate in Pakistan is very high, i.e. 340 per 100,000 live
births compared with six deaths per 100,000 live births in the West. It is
also estimated that in some rural areas Maternal Mortality Rate is as high
as almost 700 per 100,000 live births [Global Health Council 2003]. The
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Pakistan is 79 deaths per 1000 live births,
which is higher than most of the countries in the region [Geography IQ
2003].
Joshi [1999] reported that malnutrition and infectious diseases are
typically more reported causes of morbidity and mortality. To her, one of
the principal underlying factors in most developing countries is the
unregulated fertility that affects maternal health and reduces the potential
for sound infant child care. It is therefore, important to note that the health
problems of mothers, children and infants are related to the ill- effects of
malnutrition, unregulated fertility together with poor socio-economic
condition of women, including the scarcity of health facilities and other
social welfare.
Widespread illiteracy among women is retrograding factor to their inferior
status. There is thus, a vicious circle of poverty and lack of education,
which leads to earlier and more frequent birth, which in turn causes high
fertility and consequently greater poverty [Rukunuddin and Farooqui
1990]. Crude death rate in Pakistan has declined to 8 per thousand [Govt.
of Pakistan 2002] from 25-30 per thousand in 1947 [Rukunuddin and
Farooqui 1990]. This is all due to advancement in medical technology
imported from the developed world [Irfan 1998].
107 ▼J. res. Sci., 2004, 15(1), 107-112
108 Ghulam Yasin, Asim Iqbal Qureshi, Muhammad Aslam and Safina Naz

Though mortality rate has declined a lot, but still there is room for
reducing mortality, particularly of infants, which is estimated as 79 per
thousand live births [Govt. of Pakistan 2002]. One of the most gratifying
phenomena of the twentieth century has been the decline in the mortality
rates, in general and of infant mortality in particular. Child mortality is a
subject of great interest to social scientists, policy makers and those who
are concerned about the quality of life in less developed countries. For
humanitarian reasons, of course, almost every one would like to see its
decline rapidly, even though it might contribute to population growth
[Martin 1993].
Sathar [1996] reported that survival of children is a matter of great interest
in any society, but it is especially important in pro-nationalist society like
Pakistan, where infant mortality claims a substantial portion of total
deaths each year. One reason for this concern is the loss of human life
and emotional loss, which accompany each death. Another reason is the
persistently high level of fertility, which is at least partly attributed to high
level of infant and child mortality. This situation demands the urgency of
studying the factors determining the infant’s health along with mother’s
health. Infant mortality is one of the most sensitive barometers of the
nation’s socio- economic conditions, and at the same time of the value of
the health services activities of local legislation [Kirk 1983].
This study aims at identifying the socio-economic factors affecting trends
in vaccination of mother and child in Multan city, Pakistan.

METHODOLOGY
Sameejabad colony was selected for the purpose of survey, which is
considered to be one of the neglected colonies in the city. A door-to-door
population survey was conducted in November and December 2002 by
interviewing all the available respondents in the colony. A total of 993
females were interviewed. The indicators for mother and child care were
the vaccination of mothers and infants, which were tabulated with
mother’s education, husband’s education, household income and
mother’s occupation. Literacy of mother is defined as given in the census
report of 1981, which indicates that a person is taken as literate who can
read and write a paragraph with understanding.
Using SPSS programme, data were analyzed to identify the various
Socio- economic factors affecting mother and child health. Chi- square
test, which is commonly used for qualitative data analysis, was used to
check the direction and magnitude of relationship between independent
and dependent variables.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Information about education and vaccination of mother is presented in
Table 1. Data reveals the fact that 83.6 percent of the illiterate and 52.9%
of literate mothers did not receive vaccination before delivery of a baby
 SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS – MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH 109

during pregnancy. On the other hand, only 16.4 percent of the illiterate
mothers received vaccination while 47.1 percent of the literate mothers
received vaccination. This clearly shows that vaccination is significantly
and positively related to education of mother. As for as education of the
father is concerned, it plays a significant role in the vaccination of mothers
(Table 2). An increase in mother’s percent vaccination was noted with
higher level of father’s education.

Table 1: The vaccination of mothers compared with literacy.

Education of mothers
Vaccination Status Illiterate (%) Literate (%)
N=755 N=238
Not vaccinated 83.6 52.9
Vaccinated 16.4 47.1
Chi-Square=92.05, Significant at zero level of Chi-Square.

Table 2: The vaccination of mothers (%) compared by their husband’s education.

Husband’s Education
Mother’s
Illiterate Primary Middle Matric F.A/F.Sc. B.A/B.Sc. M.A/M.Sc.
Vaccination
N=506 N=106 N=92 N=179 N=44 N=54 N=12
Not Vaccinated 82.8 82.1 73.9 68.7 56.8 53.8 50.0
Vaccinated 17.2 17.9 26.1 31.3 43.2 46.3 50.0
Chi-Square= 48.76**, Significant at zero percent level of Chi-Square.

Data presented in Table 3 about household income and vaccination of

mothers reveal that majority (85.4%) of the low-income mothers did not
receive vaccination, while 55.2% of the high-income mothers did not
receive vaccination. On the other hand, only 14.6% of the low-income
mothers received vaccination, whereas 44.8% of the high-income mother
received vaccination. A significant relationship between household
income and mother’s vaccination was found.
Table 3: The vaccination of mothers (%) compared with their husband’s income.
House hold Income (Rs. Per Month)
Mother’s
<Rs.1000 1001-1500 1501-2000 2001-2500 2501-3000 3001 and above
Vaccination
N=89 N=441 N=215 N=138 N=81 N=29
Not Vaccinated 85.4 79.6 74.9 69.6 70.4 55.2
Vaccinated 14.6 20.4 25.1 30.4 29.6 44.8
Chi-Square= 199.23**, Significant at 1 percent level of Chi-Square.

Table 4: Percentage distribution of mothers according to their vaccination by their occupation.

Occupation of mother
Mother’s vaccination House wife Working
N=963 N=30
Not Vaccinated 76.4 70.0
Vaccinated 23.6 30.0
Chi-Square= 0.356

Occupation of mother did not seem to have a significant relationship with

mother’s vaccination (Table 4). Insignificant relationship between
mother’s occupation and vaccination may be due to the fact that
occupation of mother was classified only into two categories, i.e. house
wife and working mother. The type of work done by mothers was not
 110 Ghulam Yasin, Asim Iqbal Qureshi, Muhammad Aslam and Safina Naz

taken into account. Had mother’s jobs been classified, results would
possibly have been different.
Data presented in Table 5 reveal that there were 755 illiterate and 238
literate mothers. About 42% of the illiterate mothers did not get their
infants vaccinated, whereas 22.3% of the literate mothers got their babies
vaccinated. As for as partial and complete vaccination of infants is
concerned, percentage of the literate mothers getting their infants
vaccinated is higher than the illiterate mothers. Data show that
relationship between mother’s education and vaccination of infants is
positive and significant.
Information regarding relationship between husband’s education and
vaccination of infants is presented in Table 6. The relationship is positive
and significant, showing that higher the education of husband, the more
infants will get vaccination. It was interesting to observe that there were
just 8.3 percent of mothers whose husbands were highly educated and
got their babies vaccinated as against 13.6 percent mothers whose
husbands are illiterate. Reason for this difference is not clear.
Table 5: Percentage distribution of mothers according to vaccination of infants by their education.
Mother’s Education
Vaccination of Infants Illiterate Literate
N=755 N=238
No Vaccination 42.3 20.0
Partial Vaccination 44.0 57.6
Complete Vaccination 13.8 22.3
Chi-Square=39.21, Significant at zero percent level of Chi-Square.

Table 6: Percentage distribution of mothers according to vaccination of their infants by their husband
education.
Husband’s Education
Vaccination of
Not Educated Primary Middle Matric F.A/F.Sc B.A/B.Sc M.A/M.Sc
infants
N=506 N=106 N=92 N=179 N=44 N=54 N=12
No Vaccination 46.0 34.0 30.4 28.5 6.8 24.1 16.7
Partial Vaccination 40.0 49.1 50.0 56.4 65.9 51.9 75.0
Complete Vaccination 13.6 16.0 19.6 15.1 27.3 24.1 8.3
Chi-Square = 53.35, Significant at zero percent level of Chi-Square.

Information regarding household income and vaccination of infants is

presented in Table 7. Data revealed that 48.9 percent of the low-income
mothers did not get their babies vaccinated, while 10.3 percent of the
high-income mothers did not do so. Percentage of the high-income
mothers is higher than low-income mothers. Relationship between the
household income and vaccination of infants is positive and significant at
5% level of Chi-Square.
Interesting results were found when occupation of mother was related to
vaccination of infants. Only 30 mothers were working, while 963 were
housewives. Data presented in Table 8 reveals that there is positive
relationship between occupation of mothers and vaccination of infants.
This shows that a higher percentage of working mothers got their infants
vaccinated. There were 37.5% housewife mothers who did not get their
 SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS – MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH 111

infants vaccinated while just 20% working mothers did not do so. On the
other hand, 15.3% of the housewife mothers got their babies vaccinated,
while 33.3 % of working mothers did so.
Table 7: Percentage distribution of mothers according to vaccination of infants by house hold income.
Mother’s House Hold Income (Per Month)
Vaccination < Rs. 1000 1001-1500 1501-2000 2001-2500 2501-3000 3001 and
N=89 N=441 N=215 N=138 N=81 Above N=29
No 48.9 37.0 36.7 34.1 39.5 10.3
Vaccination
Partial 39.4 46.5 51.6 45.7 43.2 69.0
Vaccination
Complete 12.5 16.6 11.6 20.3 17.3 20.7
Vaccination
Chi-Square = 21.50, Significant at 5 percent level of Chi-Square.

Table 8: Percentage distribution of mothers according to vaccination of infants by their occupation.

Occupation of Mothers
Vaccination of Infants House Wife Working
N=963 N=30
No Vaccination 37.5 20.0
Partial Vaccination 47.2 46.7
Complete Vaccination 15.3 33.3
Chi-Square = 8.417**, Significant at 1 percent level of Chi-Square.

It is concluded that mothers who are educated, whose husbands are

educated, and who are in higher income bracket and those who are
working, are taking care not only of themselves but their babies also. So,
a higher percentage of educated mothers or whose husbands are
educated or whose income is higher or who are working got themselves
as well as their infants vaccinated.
CONCLUSIONS
The present study is an attempt to identify the socio-economic factors
affecting the vaccination of mother and child in Multan city. This study has
found that majority of the mothers were illiterate and working as house
wives. Literacy level of mothers was found to be highly related not only to
mother’s vaccination but also to vaccination of the infants. Mothers,
whose husbands were educated, seemed to have a positive good effect
on vaccination because a higher percentage of such mothers had
vaccination and got their babies vaccinated too. Household income also
proved to be a good indicator of mother and child health. Mothers, whose
household income was higher not only got themselves vaccinated but
also got their infants vaccinated. As for as occupation of mother was
concerned it did not prove to be a good indicator in the case of
vaccination but proved a good indicator for vaccination of infants.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS
It is intolerable that so many thousands of women are dying painful and
lonely deaths in the process of giving life and we are doing so little to stop
it. Helping to save these lives by achieving at least a 50 percent reduction
112 Ghulam Yasin, Asim Iqbal Qureshi, Muhammad Aslam and Safina Naz

in maternal and infant mortality by the end of this century is a challenge,

which we must accept. Helping to save their lives need a strong plan of
action, including community education, backup support in the form of
good emergency transport system and improvement in hospital services,
staff training and repeated refresher courses, political commitment and a
good monitoring system.

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