Child Immunization in Rural West Bengal (India): A Multilevel Analysis

Atanu Ghosh, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Laishram Ladusingh, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

This paper identifies the various individual and village level characteristics, which influences childhood immunization in rural West Bengal. However, even after controlling for these observed factors, a considerable amount of variation between villages remain due to unobserved characteristics. The estimated intraclass correlation coefficient from the random intercept multilevel modeling shows that in a village the correlation between two children in their immunization status is very high. This proves that the health seeking behaviour of individuals under different hierarchy are related to each other. Among the individual level characteristics, mother's education (particularly the secondary education), antenatal care during pregnancy and the place of delivery are showing a positive significant impact on child immunization. Among the village level characteristics, the distance to the nearest transport facility is significant, which shows that as distance increases the probability of immunizing a child gradually decreases.