Barriers to and enablers of childhood immunization uptake in Ethiopia’s Amhara, Oromia, and Somali Regions: A multi-perspective qualitative study

Amare Zewdie, Minyahil Tadesse Boltena, Mengistu Ayenew, Tamrat Endebu, Melat Dereje, Alemseged Abdissa, Mirafe Solomon, Paula Valentine, Tahlil Ahmed, Andrew Clarke, Sostine Makunja, Mervat Alhaffar, Catherine R. McGowan, Nada Abdelmagid, Yohannes Hailemichael, Helen Howard, Ifunanya Clara Agu, Ifu · 2026

Read Barriers to and enablers of childhood immunization uptake in Ethiopia’s Amhara, Oromia, and Somali Regions: A multi-perspective qualitative study by Amare Zewdie, Minyahil Tadesse Boltena, Mengistu Ayenew, Tamrat Endebu, Melat Dereje, Alemseged Abdissa, Mirafe Solomon, Paula Valentine, Tahlil Ahmed, Andrew Clarke, Sostine Makunja, Mervat Alhaffar, Catherine R. McGowan, Nada Abdelmagid, Yohannes Hailemichael, Helen Howard, Ifunanya Clara Agu, Ifu (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13240881.txt.

Description

Zewdie and a large Ethiopia-UK team explored what helps and hinders childhood vaccination across three Ethiopian regions. Ethiopia carries one of the world's largest groups of zero-dose children. The study ran eighteen focus groups, interviews with twenty-three mothers, and forty-two key informant talks. Eight districts in Amhara, Oromia, and Somali regions took part.

Shared barriers included distant services, low awareness, mothers' competing duties, and fear of side effects. Rough or disrespectful care also discouraged return visits. Beliefs differed by region, from delaying shots until after baptism to keeping young infants indoors. Engaging religious leaders and fathers, and timing sessions around local holidays, emerged as promising fixes.

Catalog record

CREATORAmare Zewdie, Minyahil Tadesse Boltena, Mengistu Ayenew, Tamrat Endebu, Melat Dereje, Alemseged Abdissa, Mirafe Solomon, Paula Valentine, Tahlil Ahmed, Andrew Clarke, Sostine Makunja, Mervat Alhaffar, Catherine R. McGowan, Nada Abdelmagid, Yohannes Hailemichael, Helen Howard, Ifunanya Clara Agu, Ifu
YEAR2026
COLLECTIONPAPERS
FORMATTXT
FILE SIZE81 KB
VERSION1.0
LICENSECC BY 4.0
RIGHTSCC BY
SOURCEEurope PMC

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13240881

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