Gender differentials in the timing of measles vaccination in rural India

Abstract

Background: Measles is a highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease. Gender differences in measles vaccination outcomes have been widely reported in India. Objective: An overlooked factor is whether female children are less likely to be vaccinated age-appropriately. Methods: In this paper we use data from the nationally representative 2008 District Level Household Survey (DLHS) to analyse if there are any gender differences in the propensity to vaccinate a child for measles, and, among the vaccinated sample, whether there are any gender differences in the probability of age-appropriate measles vaccination. Results: Our analysis confirms that girls have both a significantly lower probability of being vaccinated and of being vaccinated age-appropriately.

Keywords

• age-appropriateness
• gender
• India
• Measles vaccination