Religion and “Zero-Dose” Vaccination Status in Children Aged 12 to 23 Months in Benin and Togo: “Evidence of Demographic and Health Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys”

Introduction: The relationship between religion and health has been a topic of interest in the past, and in recent years it has become increasingly visible in the social, behavioural, and health sciences. This work aims to study the influence of religion on the “zero-dose” vaccination status of children aged 12 - 23 months in Benin and Togo. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which consisted in carrying out secondary analyzes using the databases of the most recent editions of the Demographic and Health Surveys in Benin and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) in Togo. We extracted data concerning the vaccination status (“1 = zero-dose”, “0 = vaccinated”) of the children, the religious affiliation of the head of the household or the mother and other variables related to the child, the mother, the household and the environment. By means of a logistic regression, the adjusted effect of the religious affiliation of the head of the household or of the mother on the vaccination status at “zero-dose” was determined. Results: A total of 2430 and 933 children were respectively included in the study on behalf of Benin and Togo. The prevalence of “zero-dose” vaccination status in children aged 12 - 23 months was 33.91% (95% CI = 31.67 - 36.23) in Benin and this prevalence was 26.88% (95% CI = 23.50 - 30.55) in Togo. In Benin, there is no evidence in favour of the influence of the religious affiliation of the mother on the “zero-dose” vaccination status of children. In Togo, children living in households whose head was Muslim (ORa = 3.44; 95% CI = 1.29 - 9.13) were more likely to be “zero-dose” than those coming from households run by individuals with no religious beliefs. Conclusion: Further research is needed to understand the basis for the excess risk of “zero-dose” vaccination status in children that appears to be associated with the Muslim religion.