Peer-Reviewed Article | Low Measles Vaccination Coverage and Spatial Analysis

This study aimed to estimate the coverage of measles vaccinations and map the spatial distribution of measles vaccination dropout in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Ethiopia’s underprivileged areas using ArcGIS for the spatial analysis, Global Moran’s I statistic for spatial autocorrelation, and Getis-Ord Gi* statistics for hot spot analysis. Overall, coverages of measles-containing-vaccine first- and second-doses were 67% and 35%, respectively. Developing regions had the lowest coverages of measles-containing-vaccine first and second-doses, 46.4% and 21.2%, respectively. On average, the measles vaccination dropout estimate was 48.3%. Refugees had the highest measles vaccination dropout estimate (56.4%). The hot spot analysis detected the highest burden of measles vaccination dropout mainly in the northeastern parts of Ethiopia, such as the Afar Region’s zones 1 and 5, the Amhara Region’s North Gondar Zone, and peripheral areas in the Benishangul Gumuz Region’s Assosa Zone.