Religious Differences in Child Vaccination in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Emile Durkheim’s scientific study on suicide (1897) is considered the pioneering work on the epidemiological impact of religion, a topic which then became the subject of intense inquiry in the West, before, during and after the epidemiologic transition. In developing countries in general, there is a dearth of scientific studies on the matter, even though the influence of religion may be more greater due the generally low levels of education among the population. Reluctance to vaccinate based on religious grounds, for example, have been reported in northern Nigeria where in 2003, Muslim leaders called on parents to refuse to vaccinate children against polio, on the grounds that the vaccine may contain HIV or cause infertility (Jegede, 2007). Such ideological barriers stand in the way of the Expanded Programme on Immunization’s goal to vaccinate all children, and of consequently achieving the fourth MDG (to reduce under 5 mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015). In order to improve the effectiveness of immunization programs, it is important to measure disparities in childhood immunization and understand the causes of these disparities. Using data collected in a Demographic and Health Surveillance System, this paper aim to examine the religious differences in child vaccination in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.