title: Iraqi parents' views of barriers to childhood immunization.
abstract: Deficiencies in knowledge about immunization among parents often leads to poor utake or errors in immunization dosage and timing. The aims of this study were to determine Iraqi parents' views of barriers to immunization and beliefs about ways to promote immunization. A questionnaire survey was carried out among 528 Iraqi parents with children who had incomplete immunization status. The main barriers to immunization agreed by the parents were lack of vaccine availability (51.5% of parents) and parents' lack of education (42.4%), while 88.4% of parents thought that lack of funding was not an important barrier. More than 60% of the parents suggested promoting childhood immunization via the media, and 77.5% thought that an increase in funding would not remove barriers to childhood immunization. Better vaccine availability in public health clinics and improving parents' literacy might enhance immunization uptake in Iraq.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. omarallela@yahoo.com
authors.forename: O Q B
authors.initials: OQ
authors.lastname: Al-Lela
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Bahari
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Al-Abbassi
authors.forename: M R M
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Salih
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Basher
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007493:Iraq; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014612:Vaccines / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines