Educating the mothers of unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated children through home visits on the benefits of tetanus vaccination increased immunization coverage in a randomized trial set in rural India.

‘Health information messages targeting the mothers of unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated children through home visits in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, increases the uptake of tetanus vaccine.’

In the group that received no intervention, 28 percent of children had received all DTP immunizations at the study's 8-month follow-up. In the groups that had received either type of intervention, 43 percent of children completed the immunization schedule (Risk Difference: 22 percent, 95 percent CI: 14 percent to 30 percent, p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two intervention groups. In addition to the impact on DPT, the interventions increased the rate of measles vaccination by 22 percent (RD: 22 percent, 95 percent CI: 14 percent to 30 percent, p< 0.001) and the rate of full immunization by 14percent (RD: 14 percent, 95 percent CI: 8 percent to 21 percent, p< 0.001). The cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted was $186, making the interventions highly cost-effective with respect to the WHO recommended threshold of GDP per capita ($793 in Uttar Pradesh). 




Broad generalizability beyond the study setting is uncertain, and the limited sample size meant that the study was not able to exclude the possibility of modest differences between the two intervention groups, or determine which aspects of the interventions were effective. Nonetheless, the trial provides evidence of efficacy that merits further investigation.
The authors state, "In contexts where knowledge and awareness are a key binding constraint, interventions that provide information to parents and care-givers of unvaccinated children have the potential to be a simple and cost-effective way of increasing demand for immunization."
Source-Eurekalert