Immunization coverage of children born in the last two-three years is still at a very unsatisfactory level, with a huge percentage of the youngest ones who are not fully protected from the most dangerous contagious diseases, warns assistant director for medical and public health issues of the Institute for Public Health, Mr Senad Begić.
Presenting research results of “MICS” from 2018, Mr Begić warned that immunization coverage of children was still at a very low level.
After the campaign immunization, coverage of vaccinated children drastically fell from 95 to 42%. The specific thing about Montenegro is that vaccines are not rejected but rather delayed.
According to the data, the most educated individuals are the ones who oppose the immunization the most.
MICS module which examined the food for the newborns and children has shown that 24% of mothers starts with early breastfeeding, whereas 40% from the Roma population have the same practice.
The situation is the best in the north, where 93,6% of children are breastfed. The research has revealed concerning data on the degree if use of the so called baby formulas.
Module relating to the HIV and sexual behavior reveals that almost 30% of women and slightly less men demonstrated adequate HIV knowledge, whereas three quarters showed no adequate knowledge.
In Roma population, the percentage is considerably lower (only 3% of women and 5% of men).
In the stigma domain, MICS has shown that 60% of women have negative view, stigmatizing treatment of HIV positive persons, just like men.
In the domain of sexual behavior the research has shown that 26% of young women aged between 15 and 24 years are sexually active. Percentage of sexually active men is double as higher.
Around 7% of adolescents and young men start sexual relations before they are 15. Early sexual activity hasn’t been identified with girls under the age of 15.
Mr Vuk Čađenović, from the Institute for Statistics, said that kindergartens were attended by children who live in settlements.
Correlation between the level of education of mother and the rate of pre-school attendance is interesting. Children whose mother has elementary level of education attend pre-school education in only 7% of cases, whereas children whose mother has high or higher education are numerous (even 75,6%).
Majority of fathers not included enough
Mr Čađenović warns that the fact that only 44% of Montenegrin fathers are included in all those activities is very concerning.